Her Chuck Taylor's
by ausllyxaustinally
Summary: Ally Dawson, a paranoid schizophrenic, teams up with popular boy, Austin Moon, for an adventure to find out who murdered Austin's best friend and Ally's cousin, Dezmond Wade. AU. (Rated T for language and mental illness jazz) ROMANCE/ADVENTURE/MYSTERY
1. Chapter 1

_Prologue_

Austin sat in his seat, glancing around the room. He felt uptight dressed in a suit that almost fit him a little bit too small. He focuses on the pastor again and tries to ignore the sound of the faint weeping. He has a hard time not glaring at the few familiar faces who press tissues to their faces, sobbing silently. He shakes his head, appalled, why cry over somebody you tormented every day? This seemed like pure bullshit to Austin.

His childhood best friend was murdered five days ago. By who? It's still being investigated. The investigations are supposed to travel further once school starts up again. His name was Dezmond Wade, one of the most charismatic, funny, odd people Austin had ever met in his entire life and it still shakes up Austin why he ever ditched his best friend. Ditched him for _this: _The girl who has her arm slung around his shoulder like she's comforting him but he can hear her smacking her gum between her teeth, she can care less. Ditched him for _this_: Two boys who are holding false sorrowed faces, hiding their phones in their laps as they text everyone about next Friday's part, they're bringing beer! Ditched him for everything he swore he'd never be. Dez was so much greater than this reputation, these frauds, this popularity.

Dez was found Sunday night by the janitor who called the cops as soon as he found Dez with that bullet pinched right between two of the wrinkles on his forehead, surged into his brain. He was tied to a chair in the Mess Hall of the school. Bruises and rope burns tainted his pale wrists. The blood ran from his forehead and down his face, drenched his shirt and dripped off of him like syrup, splattering the ground. There wasn't any evidence from any person but Austin was strung together by the thought of _who would do this? _Dez loved people. Even the ones who stole his clothes from the locker room.

Sorrow tugged at Austin's chest. He should've been there for Dez, he should've never left Dez for everything else. He shouldn't have chosen everything else over Dez. Dez had been his best friend since he was 5 and then one day in the ninth grade, Austin showed up to school and he can't even remember what he said to the red-headed guy, but Dez soon stopped following Austin around, talking to him, even looking at him. Their friendship was battered and smothered into the ground for Austin to walk all over without any remorse. Austin wonders how hurt Dez must've been.

It isn't until now, an entire year later, that Austin feels the guilt and regret for what he did. How could he let go of Pancake Breakfasts and Science Inventions or Freezie-Friday's? But he had and he feels even worse when Dez's family glances over at him and smiles warmly through their tears. He didn't deserve that but he still smiles back.

Austin found himself lost in a daydream of the last good day he had with Dez. It was the day before he quit on Dez. They were at Melody's Diner. Austin was demolishing pancakes and Dez was wolfing down a Chicken Pot Pie. They were laughing over Didi's new boyfriend, he was a total loser that Didi thought was just a magnificent superhero.

He pulls out of the daydream when the family starts to exit the church, following the casket outside of the backdoor. Austin stands up with everyone else, paying his respects to the family. He stares at his feet. He feels awful, he feels the grief, he remembers the innocent times.

Austin wanted to know who killed Dez and he didn't know how, but he was going to figure it out. He was going to give Dez his justice. He owed this to Dez and he felt that Dez deserved to be more than a cold case. At some point, Austin was going to find Dez's killer.

**. . . . . .**

_Chapter One_

"Justice," said the teacher, scribbling the word across the board, "J-U-S-T-I-C-E. Justice." Mrs. Donna turned around and looked at her students, "Who can tell me what justice is? What is it to you?" Of course everybody knew what justice meant but nobody rose their hand, everyone was hardly paying attention to her lesson.

Mrs. Donna stared at her students, waiting for the answer to be shouted out but she received nothing. The students were picked at their binders, or doodling in their books. Mrs. Donna's eyes land on Ally Dawson's slumped figure in her desk. Her eyes always seemed to look tired and she had an apathetic attitude. But Mrs. Donna still recalls Ally's great pieces of writing. Ally should know the answer to this, despite her troubles, Ally was an intelligent girl but often didn't want to show it.

"Ally," Mrs. Donna called, a smile pressing on her lips, "What is justice to you?"

Ally looked at Mrs. Donna. She shrugged and looked away from the teacher, focusing on the numbers she was scribbling down onto her desk with a dull pencil. Ally spoke up, "What my cousin deserved but never got." Mrs. Donna hadn't expected that answer. The students burst into a ramble at the mentioning of Dezmond Wade who's memory had drifted away from the school until now.

Austin had been scribbling non-sense into his notebook when his head snapped up and looked at Ally. He didn't exactly know Ally, but he'd heard of her. She was Dez's cousin. She moved to Miami right after he passed away because Dez's mother needed the comfort from her parents. Ally's mother was Dez's mother's sister. Austin recalled Ally's name being mentioned a few times by Dez. Though, Austin has only ever known Ally to be the girl who sat in the middle row of his English class.

"Quiet!" exclaimed Mrs. Donna to the babbling students. She looked at Ally. "Thank you for that comment, Ally." Mrs. Donna sighed, trying to continue on with her lesson as she corrected the class to what justice was: A fair treatment when an unfair circumstance has happened. She tried to ignore the other students: _She's right, kinda like her cousin. He's just a cold case now. That's stupid that they never solved it. Oh well, he's in the past. Wasn't that like two years ago? _

"You're welcome. But it's not like he was really a big part of this school, right?" Ally said again, her voice always sounded tired and apathetic. Ally blamed it on the weight of the world.

"That is enough, Ally." Mrs. Donna snapped above the snickering students who seemed to find Ally's comments entertaining. Ally smirked lightly at Mrs. Donna and mock-saluted her. The class laughed again.

Austin didn't take his eyes off of Ally's figure. She knew Dez just as much as Austin did obviously, maybe a little less considering they didn't live in the same city, but it was obvious to him that Ally was just as curious and adamant to give Dez what he deserved as Austin was. He kept his gaze locked on her back for a moment before he focused on flipping through his textbook as instructed by the teacher who had obviously had enough of Ally's comments.

**. . . . . . . . . **

Austin was flipping through the old school yearbook when he heard somebody sit down at his lunch table. He quickly shoved the book onto his lap and looked up seeing his two buddies. Elliott tore off his bag from his shoulder and grunted as he held his head.

"Need some Advil or something?" Austin cackled, watching his friend with amusement.

"Fuck off, Moon." Elliott growled into his palms. Austin rose her hands up in defense earning a laugh from Jace who sat next to Elliott.

Jace patted Elliott's shoulder, "He's just frustrated his girl doesn't like him." Jace smirked.

"She's not my girl," Elliott moaned sadly. Jace gave Austin a look, the two of them laughing in sync.

"Little Sophomore Sophie! Isn't that right, Elliott?" Jace cooed, pinching Elliott's cheek.

"Fucking stop, Jace!" Elliott slapped his wrists away, a frown on his features.

Austin's eyes grew in size, "Dude, the geek?"

Jace pointed at Austin, "The _hot _geek."

"Don't talk about her like that," huffed Elliott.

"I'm sorry, man, but no girl I've seen can pull off converse and a mini skirt like that." Jace replied, followed by a whistle. Austin laughed and focused on his lunch that he had forgotten was there.

"Whatever." grumbled Elliott. "She hates me." he moped, "She totally me I was a jackass-player who has no future ahead of me." Austin and Jace snorted, holding in their laughter. Elliott sighed loudly, "But why do chicks have to be so complicated? Like, she can't expect me just to give up everything? Like, I'm just going to magically stop living my life and start reading books with her! It's fucked up!"

Austin glanced up at the girl who was standing there. Her eyes held a fire in them after listening to what he just said. Elliott noticed Austin holding his lips, trying not to laugh so he quickly turned around. Elliott's face paled, "Sophie, Hey...I was...I was just talking about you!" Elliott stumbled over his words.

Sophie's face began red with anger, "Jerk." she spat, her palm flying across Elliott's face causing Jace and Austin to burst into laughter. She marched off, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. Jace's face had become red from laughing so hardly, tears came to his eyes. He wiped them off and watched as Elliott muttered incoherent things under his breath.

"You deserved that," Austin said, a smirk in place.

"Oh, like you don't!" Elliott tossed a banana at Austin which he caught. Austin shrugged and started peeling the banana. "I'm not even half as bad as you are and I still get treated like shit! Like, fuck, you banged thousands of chick's in that janitor's closet and then you move on like they're victims. You're the biggest asshole I know but you've never even got slapped once!"

"That's because I know how to treat a lady." Austin replied, his mouth full.

"Because using multiple women for pleasure is how we treat a lady with respect!" shrieked Elliott. Austin shrugged. So maybe his example wasn't so great.

"What's with the red cheek?" snickered Kira as she sat down beside Austin, slinging her arm around his waist. Austin exchanged glances with Jace. Jace tried not to laugh. Kira's status was troubled: She was something like the _Queen Bee _of the school, yet nobody liked her, not the losers, not the jocks, not even her friends. Austin claims that nobody's a backstabber, it's just the simple fact that Kira is a know-it-all, clingy, and a complete bitch.

"He had a run-in with love," Jace said, bursting into a fit of giggles right after. Kira looked at Elliott and mouthed _It's not that bad! _Elliott slumped his shoulders and sighed to himself. Austin chuckled to himself. He inched away from Kira just to realize he was trapped in by another girl. He looked over and saw Brooke. Brooke was even worse than Kira. He smiled nervously at her.

"You didn't come by yesterday," Brooke said, pouting slightly.

"Of course, he didn't," Kira butt in, "The boy doesn't like you, Martins. Besides, he has me." Kira grinned at Austin, playing with the ends of her hair.

"Actually, I have neither of you. I don't like to be strung down by two whiney bitches." Austin said. Kira's eyes widened and Brooke gasped. Elliott and Jace burst into loud laughter, causing themselves to get glances from a few people at other tables. Austin gave them both a wry smirk.

Kira went to slap Austin across the face. He grabbed her wrist. "We're not gonna do that, baby." he said. She narrowed her eyes at him and stormed away. Brooke gathered her things and chased after Kira, also feeling offended.

"Aw, a beautiful friendship!" Jace gushed, snickering with Elliott. Austin laughed slightly. He was watching the two girls gossip and walk away when he noticed another familiar girl walking towards a table in the cafeteria, sitting herself down with three other girls. It was Ally, the girl from his English class. She had been on his mind since this morning. He could not get her comment out of his head. He stared at her for a moment. He knew he needed her help to solve the case of Dez's killer and he knew that she wanted to solve it as well, judging by her attitude in their English class.

"Dude," Jace said, snapping his fingers in Austin's face. Austin looked at him. "What's up with you all of a sudden?"

"Nothing." Austin said, "Just..." He forced a smirk, "Brooke's still got a nice ass."

The boys erupted into loud snickering.

**. . . . . . .**

"Hey!" Austin shouted, pulling himself away from the concrete wall he'd been leaning against. He picked up his pace, fixing his bag on his shoulder. "Hey," he said again when he finally got to his destination: Ally Dawson from English.

Ally looked over to see who was suddenly next to her, "Uh, hey?" she gave him an odd look.

"You're..._Abby_, right?" Austin said, cringing as he said the name because he knew it probably wasn't right but he tried.

Ally smirked, a slight laugh escaping her lips. "_Ally._" she corrected him.

"Ally," Austin repeated, nodding his head and looking upwards as if he was trying to print the name inside his brain so he wouldn't forget. "I, uh, I heard what you said in English class today."

Ally looked away from him and watched her feet on the sidewalk. "Oh." she said, "Yeah, I've been getting remarks all day from that. You want to add?"

"That depends on the kind of remark you're looking for." Austin said.

"Don't try to be that mysterious boy, just tell me what you want." Ally said. Austin almost laughed at her bluntness.

"Right," Austin said, "English class...What you said was really interesting. You think that Dez's case should've gotten solved?"

Ally pursed her lips, "Yeah. I do. It's kind of disappointing that it didn't, really. Dez was a good guy."

"I know." Austin said. A silence fell between the two of them as they walked down the street. Austin tightened his grip on his backpack strap. "And you...you were his cousin?" Austin said, looking over at her.

Ally frowned in confusion, "Yeah, I was." she replied before she snorted and added, "Probably the reason why I'm the only one who actually cares about his justice."

"No, you're not." Austin quickly said. Ally glanced at him. "Dez deserved justice. He should've gotten it. I agree; he was a really good guy." Austin nodded. "He deserved more than he ever got." Austin said, under his breath. Ally was still staring at him. Austin was unsure as to whether Ally heard what he said or not, but after she stared at him for longer than he wanted, he said, "Dez and I were really good friends until about freshman year."

"What happened?" she questioned, nosily.

Austin shrugged, "People change."

Suddenly, Ally's eyes sparked with recognition and she snapped her fingers. "Oh! You're that...that friend of Dez's who ditched him for your little buddies! Oh, yeah, I've heard about you."

Austin rolled his eyes, "Look, I made a mistake and I regret it, okay? I've obsessed over finding his killer since the day he died and I swore that I would find out who and that's what I'm going to do. That's why I'm here, That's why I'm talking to you; you seemed curious about his case and you obviously have this determination to give him his justice." Austin smirked and looked at her, "You've already started _investigating_."

Ally looked at him, her eyes wider. "How did you know that?"

"I have a tell." Austin replied wryly. Ally rolled her eyes and looked away from him. This time it was Austin's eyes that sparked with recognition. He stopped walking, grabbing her shoulder to make her stop as well. "Wait a second...You're..." Austin stared at her for a moment before his lips curled upwards tauntingly, "I know who you are. Dez used to mention you a couple times. I've seen pictures of you in his house a few times as a kid. You're that cousin, that one that went to that hospital because you went crazy." Austin twirled his finger by his temple, gesturing how wonky her mental health had gotten.

Ally looked at him for a moment before she looked away and started walking again. She sucked on her cheek for a moment before replying, "I guess you could say that." She then gave him a wry look and said, "But I wouldn't say crazy, just..._over-imaginative._"

"Wow. Diagnosed with schizophrenia at thirteen. Does anybody know?" Austin questioned.

"No, not really. It doesn't really come up in day-to-day conversation." Ally replied nonchalantly.

"I want to investigate with you. I need your help on this and you can't deny that you don't want to bring Dez justice because I've already figured you out." Austin said, "If you don't, I'll tell the school about your _imagination_." Austin threatened.

Ally laughed slightly, "Okay? I don't care." she said. Austin's smirk faded slightly. "You think I'm just gonna surrender because you tell the school I'm a little bit wonky up here." She tapped her head twice. "You're gonna have to try harder than that."

"Look," Austin sighed, "I have a good idea who did it. Multiple ideas actually. You'll help me, won't you? For Dez?" Austin asked her. Ally stared at him for a moment.

"Yeah, I'll help you." she said. Austin's eyes widened slightly, looking at her with surprise. He knew at one point he was going to get her to say yes because Austin always gets what he wants, but he hadn't expected her to agree so easily.

"Well, great...Yeah, great." Austin said, nodding his head. He wasn't used to getting his way without a little bit of a scandalous scuffle. He couldn't deny that it felt good to have his way so easily. Ally also wasn't what Austin thought. He expected a geeky, book-nerd, crazy, loner girl. He remembered according to Dez that Ally had been a superbly smart, bookworm, energetic, loving girl. Up until her mind snapped. (Dez's words, not Austin's.)

_"Sorry, Austin, I can't go. I'm going down to Tampa to see my cousin." Dez told Austin, his thumbs rapidly hitting different buttons on his game-controller. _

_"Your cousin? What's so special about your cousin?" Austin scoffed, glancing at the clock and feeling relieved that he didn't have to leave for thirty minutes yet. Since Austin had turned thirteen, his mother had extended curfew to ten-fifteen p.m. _

_"You know, Ally? My favourite cousin down in Tampa? The smart one-"_

_"-Oh, the loser one." Austin smirked. Dez gave Austin a look. Austin laughed slightly. "What's going on with her?"_

_"We're not really sure. Mom got a call from Aunt Penny. I guess her mind snapped or something. Who really knows. All I heard was that one day Aunt Penny and Uncle Lester get home and she's sitting in the corner of the room, holding her hands to her ears, and shouting at something that isn't there." Dez said._

_Austin's eyes were slightly wide. "Dude." he said, not believing what he was hearing. He recalled the stories of Dez complaining how Ally could always ace everything and Dez never could, or the stories about how she was energetic and loved everybody she encountered. This story was definitely different._

_"I know," Dez nodded, "Mom said that she's in the hospital now. She keeps saying that some man in a suit keeps visiting her but he's not even real. There isn't even a guy named Richard Riddle anywhere in Florida. She thinks she's hearing stuff, too. Like, people talking, but nobody is ever in the room. It's weird, dude. I'm kinda worried about her."_

_"That is really weird." Austin agreed._

"So, what now?" Ally questioned.

"We'll meet up tomorrow after school." Austin decided, pulling himself out of his memory. Ally clicked her tongue as if to say _gotcha_. She started crossing the street, a car slamming on their breaks and honking at her. Ally waved apologetically before scurrying off onto the other street. "What are you doing?" Austin called out to her.

"Going home!" Ally replied.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" Austin called out again. Ally gave a thumbs up before she turned the corner smoothly in her purple chuck taylor shoes. Austin took a deep breath. "We're gonna give you what you deserve." Austin muttered to the sky as if Dez could hear him.

**Yeah, another new story. Sorry but my mind is just kinda like gafjkymnj. It's a giant mushy mess of situations, summary's, fluff, and weird stuff. **


	2. Chapter 2

"I know." stated a voice from the door. Ally looked up and saw her step-sister standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe.

Ally shifted her eyes for a moment before looking at her again, "Know what?" she questioned. Trish straightened up in the doorway, crossing her arms over her chest.

She gave Ally a look, "That you stopped taking your pills."

"I swear to God, Trish, if you tell my parents anything, I'll kill you." Ally barked at her.

"Relax," snapped Trish, "I'm not saying anything." Ally immediately hyped down from her anger, staring at Trish with unsure eyes. "Why?" questioned Trish, "Why did you stop?"

Ally laughed humorlessly, shaking her head. "Why do you think? You know what they do to me. The stomach pains, the goddamn tremors."

"Yeah, and you know the side effects without them? You become a freaking lunatic!" Trish growled. Ally rolled her eyes. It was so typical of her step-sister to freak out about something like this.

Ally gave her a wry smile, "I'm better as a lunatic then a drugged up fake. Plus, my therapist said I should embrace who I am."

"That's know what she meant and you know it, Ally!" Trish glowered. "God, why can't you just take care of yourself? Why does everyone have to do it for you?"

"Nobody has to take care of me!" Ally half-shouted.

Trish peeked behind herself before looking back at Ally, "Keep your voice down!" she whispered, "Thought you don't want anyone to know."

Ally rolled her eyes. She lowered her voice, "I'm just fine without them. Nothing's even happened."

"Nothing better not. If I hear one word about anything loopy going on, I'm telling my Mom and your Dad is going to send you back to Tampa to live with your Mom." Trish threatened. Ally shook her head, rolling her eyes. She scribbled doodles on her homework paper.

"You wouldn't dare to tell my Dad." Ally replied snidely.

"Do you want a bet?" glared Trish. "Look, Ally, I'm looking out for you, okay? When my Mom told me we were going to move in with you and your Dad, I expected to hate you but under some odd circumstance I don't. So, I don't want anything bad to happen, okay? You're like my friend."

Ally was going to reply something witty but decided it was best to leave it. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine."

Trish stared at her unconvinced before slowly nodding her head. She slowly turned around and hesitantly left the room. Ally waited until her footsteps were walking down the stairs before she looked at her sheet again and continued scribbling down math problems and solving them.

* * *

Ally tugged her sweater a little tighter. The wind was cool brushing against her as she approached the park bench. "You ignored me at school today."

Austin jumped, "Geez, Ally," he breathed. He took a moment to settle down his heart rate. "I didn't know we were friends."

"We're not." she said, slumping down next to him, "I just thought you'd at least acknowledge me."

"Don't sound so disappointed." Austin smirked over at her. "Now, tell me, what do you have in mind for this investigation or whatever we're calling it."

Ally thought for a moment before glancing at him, "Do you have any suspects?"

"A few, yeah. All teachers. What about you?" Austin replied.

"Teachers." she nodded. "I mean, it kinda has to be a teacher, right? He was murdered at the school and the only person who could've unlocked the school door's is a teacher." Ally added. Austin nodded in agreement. "I've got three: Ms. Hadley, Mr. Corelli, and Mrs. Donna."

Austin's eyes widened, "Mrs. Donna?! No way. No, it couldn't have been her. She's too sweet and she's young."

"She seemed flinchy when I mentioned Dez's justice in class yesterday." Ally shrugged.

"It couldn't have been her." Austin said.

"We should at least check." Ally replied. Austin sighed and then nodded. He pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled her name down. Ally peeked at the paper and saw he, too, had guessed about Ms. Hadley. He scribbled down Mr. Corelli's name as well. "What about students?" she asked, "Do you know of anybody who might know something?"

Austin shook his head. "No. Everybody was just as surprised as me when we got to school on Monday morning. Dez didn't have any friends after me."

"Wow, and you still ditched him? Gold medal for you." Ally said mockingly.

"Shut up." Austin growled, the guilt itching at him. Ally laughed slightly. Austin continued to scribble down thoughts and suggestions of who would possibly know anything and who might've done it. "You know where we need to go?" Austin questioned.

Ally looked at him, "Amuse me."

"The Arcade. Dez loved the arcade. He went there all weekend, every weekend. Somebody down there might know something or remember something." Austin said. Ally nodded. Austin jumped up from the best. "Come on." he said. Ally followed behind him.

* * *

"This is where he hung out?" Ally questioned, looking at the arcade in distaste. "I had no idea my cousin was such a...clown." she cringed when she saw a little boy picking his nose and then continuing to press the buttons on whatever game he was playing.

"Obviously you didn't know him very well." Austin replied, looking around. "Dez always made sure I came with him. I only stopped after we didn't hang out anymore."

"Yeah, you're too cool for the arcade, right?" Ally said smugly.

Austin gave her a sharp look, "No. I just had other things to do."

"Hm, like what? You don't seem like the type to have a lot going on." Ally said. She was right; Austin never did have anything going on. He could've continued gaming at the arcade, but he often had girls at his house and he was being invited to parties or movie night's with other people. That's probably why his and Dez's friendship completely crumbled: Austin lost time for Dez and never had intentions of finding it again.

Austin just ignored her. Ally was about to add another witty remark when Austin's eyes suddenly landed on somebody familiar. Mr. Donald - one of the workers at the arcade who never seemed to quit this job although his paycheck was so low.

Austin walked off. Ally frowned slightly, but followed. "Mr. Donald?" Austin said unsurely, almost like he was nervous it wasn't him. Mr. Donald turned around and saw Austin, he blinked a couple times. "It's Austin Moon...I used to come to this arcade a lot."

"Yeah, I remember you." Mr. Donald said, "I've missed you around here."

Ally guffawed softly, "Why?" she muttered. Austin glared at her. He shook his head and smiled slightly at Mr. Donald.

"I just have something to ask you..." Austin said. Mr. Donald put his hands on his hips and nodded his head, looking between Austin and Ally. "You remember Dez, don't you?"

Mr. Donald's eyes filled with remembrance. He nodded his head slowly. "Of course, I remember good ol' Dezmond. Nice kid. A weird one, too. Maybe that's why I liked him so much."

Austin laughed slightly. He remembered coming to the arcade with Dez, just the two of them and sneaking into the back where Mr. Donald would let them roam to see the games that were coming soon. They used to share stories with one another about how awesome the games were gonna be. Dez was always sure he'd get the first play, but he never got it. The game wasn't going to be out until the fall of his Junior year. Dez never made it to the Junior year.

"Uh, Well, Ally and I are, um, looking into his case again." Austin said slowly. Would they get in massive trouble for this? Mr. Donald's eyes widened slightly before he focused on Austin again, letting him say what he wanted. "Dez deserves justice so we're trying to piece together a few things. Would you happen to know anything about...the night he died?"

"Sorry, Boy, I don't." Mr. Donald said. Ally narrowed her eyes. He answered it quite fast, she thought to herself. Mr. Donald sighed. "Well, not of that night. I do remember the night before. Dez came to me and said that somebody wanted tutoring done at that school. He said it was confidential, too. He seemed fidgety. Not himself, you know? I guess I never looked into it too much, so I minded my business. Found out on the Monday morning that he went into that school and never came out besides on that damn gurney inside that body bag."

Austin cringed at the thought and swallowed hard. Ally glanced at him and felt something like sympathy tugging at her heart. She felt a little bit awful, too. It was her cousin after all. She recalled playing in the yard with him as kids. He was also sweet to her when she was in the mental hospital for the first time. He was the only one who didn't treat her like she was a lunatic, which she knew she was.

"Thanks, Mr. Donald." Austin said, not sure if he wanted to hear anymore. Austin was feeling more regretful as the days were going on. He slowly walked away, towards the doors with Ally. He should've never stopped being Dez's friend. He would've known what was going on in Dez's life and he could've put a stop to this.

"No, you couldn't have." Ally said. Austin looked at her alarmed. "You were thinking out loud." she said softly. Austin shook his head and sighed. "Maybe Dez didn't say anything to anyone. What makes you think you would have been so special?"

"I was his best friend, Ally. His only friend. He trusted me with his life and I just...I let him go and I let him down." Austin said.

"You're right. You were kind of a shitty friend." Ally said. Austin looked at her but couldn't help but laugh slightly. "You're laughing?" Ally arched a brow.

"Well, Yeah. You're the only one who has ever really said the cold truth to my face. Even if you knew it was going to make me upset." Austin said. "You're the first person to ever do that."

"My intention was spiteful, but whatever." Ally said. Austin laughed again. Ally really wasn't so bad. He expected annoyance 24/7 or her being totally weird. Perhaps, she was weird but he didn't notice considering he was so used to odd behavior since Dez.

"So, why did you come down to Miami?" Austin questioned as he walked down the street with her.

"Well, my parents divorced shortly before Dez passed away. Then when he did pass away, my Dad moved to Miami because he figured Dez's family needed some comfort. I went with him. My mom stayed in Tampa because of her job." Ally explained.

"Do you ever miss your Mom?" Austin questioned.

"Not a whole lot. She was really controlling and I guess we've never been super close. She visits sometimes though. She's my mom, she obviously cares about me, but sometimes I think she cares a little bit too much" Ally said. Austin laughed slightly and nodded his head.

"You know, I never see you around school a whole lot." Austin said.

"Oh, sure you do. You're just never looking for me." Ally said. Austin looked at her, confusedly. "I've seen you tons of times. You knocked my tray over and I ended up having to leave school to buy a new shirt because the tomato juice got everywhere." Ally hinted.

Austin stared at her. He didn't remember ever knocking over her lunch tray. "I did that?"

"Yeah," Ally nodded her head, "And then you smirked at me and walked away." she gave him a pointed look, "You never apologized.

Austin gave out a small laugh, looking heavenward before looking over at her again, "I'm sorry for ruining your shirt."

Ally hesitated, "Apology accepted."

"You know, you're not bad." Austin said. "I expected this huge book-nerd who was really annoying. Don't get me wrong, you are annoying. But you're still not what I expected."

"Gee, thanks." Ally said flatly. Austin laughed slightly. "So, now that we've had this heart to heart. What about school?" Ally asked him.

"What about it?"

"Well, Are you going to continue ignoring me, is this going to be like an _we only talk outside of school _thing? Or will you acknowledge me if you see me in the hallways?" Ally said.

Austin looked over at her. He thought for a moment before speaking up. "Will you ignore me?"

Ally took a moment to think. "Hm, no. I think you're not that bad of an apple. I'll pay you a little bit of attention."

Austin laughed slightly. "Alright, then. I guess I won't ignore you either."

"Good." Ally said. "It's not like I'm a freaky, loner chick either. I shouldn't be too bad to wave at in the halls. I promise not to run up to you and embarrass you either."

Austin grinned over at her, "I like the way you think."

"Yeah, I'm kinda good at that stuff." Ally said with a wry smile. Austin laughed again. "This might be a good idea, you know."

"What?" Austin responded.

"Me and you trying to figure out the case. I kinda feel like we're the only ones who can do it. We knew him the most. I mean, you were his best friend. He was my favourite cousin. We also both seem to be the only ones who actually care about solving it, too." Ally said. Austin nodded his head.

"Yeah, this really might be a good idea." he agreed.

Ally thought for a moment, "Would you go to the library tomorrow after school if I was there? There are newspapers about Dez's death that we could look over. It has things from the case on there, I'm sure." Ally said.

Austin nodded, "Yeah, I'd go. But you need to read."

Ally laughed slightly, "Deal."


	3. Chapter 3

"You ignored me again at school today, you liar." Ally said, dropping down beside him on the park bench. Austin looked at her and sighed.

"Well, what do you expect from me? This is going to take time." Austin said. "My friends are..."

"Yeah, I know. It's okay. I didn't expect you to follow through your word." Ally said.

Austin frowned, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ally gave him a dry look. "Oh, come on, Austin. You're popular, I'm kinda not. I didn't expect you to drop your rep just to say hi to me." she said. The frown didn't leave Austin's face. "It's fine, Austin. If the roles were reversed, I wouldn't say hi to you either."

"You wouldn't?" Austin asked.

"No, I don't think you'd be worth the trouble." Ally said, a small smirk pressing on her lips. Austin looked at her for a moment. He laughed slightly, though deep down, he was slightly bothered that she thought of him as unreliable. Though, he sometimes was. He didn't always follow through his word - this was a good example of that.

"Are we going to the library or what?" Austin said, standing up.

Ally nodded, jumping up, too. She watched as Austin began to walk away. She leaned on one side, sucking lightly on the inside of her cheek. "Um, Austin?" she called out. Austin turned around with a confused face as he looked at her. "The library is this way." she pointed in the opposite direction.

Austin forced his face not to flush. "I knew that." he said, "Just wanted to see if you did." Austin walked passed her in the other direction.

Ally stared at his back, amused. "Sure." she said, sarcastically before catching up to him and walking by his side while he talked to her about new suspects.

**. . . .**

The librarian slapped down a pile of newspapers onto the desk in front of Austin and Ally. "That's it. That's all the newspapers and articles about Dezmond Wade. Need any other information, there's a computer just behind you." 

"Great, thanks," Austin said to her. Ally grabbed a paper and let her eyes scan over the words. "I'm gonna use the computer." Austin said. Ally nodded, still focused on the article she was reading. Austin turned around and sat down at the computer. He opened up Google and typed in _Dezmond Wade death 2011._

He was immediately given pages of information. He clicked on the first one and scrolled through the useless information that didn't give him anything he was looking for, but he continued scrolling through different web pages.

Ally was focused intently on the article that she was reading when her focus suddenly jumbled. She slowly watched the words blur and then begin to slide together. She frowned slightly and stared with narrowed eyes as they stack, one after the other. She stared blankly for a moment, before she reads the words _'They're coming to get you, Ally.'_ Ally stared down at the words.

"Ally," Austin's voice caused the words to scatter back to their original places. All that was left of them was their wording of Dez's case. Ally looked at him again, wondering when he'd logged off the computer and sat down in front of her. "Did you find something?" he questioned.

"Uh..No, No. Just..." Ally looked at the paper again, "Just says that...that Dez had burns along his arms. Several stabs wounds to the chest, but no evidence to leave who it was." Ally said. Austin winced as she read the words out. He nodded his head.

"That's what all I got, too. Anything else that could be useful?" Austin questioned. Ally looked down at the words and then up at Austin, slowly shaking her head. Austin arched an eye brow. "Are you okay? You seem a little off."

"Like you know me well enough to tell when I'm myself or when I'm not?" Ally smirked at him.

"Nevermind then." Austin grumbled. Ally snickered lightly. She looked at the newspaper again.

"We should take these, just in case." Ally said. She leaned over in her chair, "Ms. Samson," she called quietly. The librarian looked over at her. "Mind if we keep these?"

"I'll never use them." she shrugged.

"Perfect, thanks." Ally said. Austin and Ally gathered them into their hands. They left the library. Austin was shuffling through different articles, shaking his head when he couldn't find anything useful.

"I don't understand. How could somebody get stabbed several times and have several rope burns on their arms and their murderer doesn't ever get caught?" Austin questioned, "How does somebody leave no evidence?"

"I don't know. Seems like bull, doesn't it?" Ally replied. Austin nodded. It really didn't make sense how the detectives couldn't figure it out. In a situation like this, it almost seemed as though it would be an easy case to solve. Obviously not.

"How did they get away?" Austin questioned, "They just left the school and people found him? It doesn't make sense. What about footprints, finger prints, blood trails, weapons?" Austin questioned. Ally shrugged, shaking her head. Austin was right; it didn't make any sense.

"Did you know anybody who didn't like Dez?" Ally questioned.

"Well, teachers, no. Students, yes." Austin replied, "Dez was a good students. All the teachers liked him. I guess Ms. Hadley didn't, which is why I suspected her but she's an old lady and I doubt she could pull something like this off. Dez wasn't hated by many students either, I guess. He was just...They just thought he was weird. I mean, a few kids would steal his clothes from the locker room or they'd spilled food on him at lunch, make fun of him during class, but I doubt anybody would go this far."

"Are you sure?" Ally questioned.

Austin hesitated, "It couldn't have been a student, could it?"

"There's a possibility." replied Ally. "I mean, you're telling me about people who basically tortured him, maybe one of the students just thought he was weird enough that he shouldn't...that he shouldn't live anymore." The thought made Ally's mouth taste sour. How could somebody be that sick?

Austin sighed, "But a student? Are you sure? You're talking about kids who can't even make up a perfect excuse as to why their math homework isn't finished." he said.

"Well, some teenagers live double lives, I guess." _Because Ally was one of those teens. One moment living like any other kid, the next moment living on a bottle of pills because her senses are out of whack. _"It was obviously planned out. Some students can get evil and sick. They probably had help, so it could have been more than one. They were obviously sly and sneaky."

"I can't think of anybody who would do this to Dez." Austin said, "I mean, yeah, a couple of students were awful to him but I never thought anybody would take the time to actually kill him. I didn't think any student would be that sick."

"People surprise you." Ally sighed.

Suddenly, a thought came to Austin's mind. "Have you talked with Dez's family lately?"

Ally looked at him oddly and nodded. "Yeah, of course. Why?"

"Well, have you ever talked about Dez and what happened?" Austin questioned her.

"Well, not really. I guess they like to talk about their memories. I've never really thought to ask them about what happened though." Ally replied.

"You need to go to Dez's place and get answers." Austin said.

"What about you?" Ally questioned.

"I can't go over there," Austin shook, "They probably hate me because I...ditched him."

"Oh, stop being a baby!" Ally spat, "Come on!" she said, dragging him with her.

"No, Ally! This is a bad idea!" Austin howled.

"All yours, Austin!" Ally laughed. Austin groaned as the two made their way to the Wade's household. Ally knocked thrice on the door. She glanced at Austin who was shuffling his feet nervously. She smacked his side and gave him a look. Austin sighed and gulped back his anxiousness.

The door slowly opened and there was Didi, standing behind the screen door. She smiled when she saw Ally. She glanced over and saw Austin. Her eyes widened slightly. "Austin?" she said, "Oh my God, I haven't seen you for like three years." she grinned at him. She opened the screen door. "Come inside, guys."

Ally gave Austin a look before following Didi inside. Austin followed after Ally, feeling self-conscious and slightly nostalgic being inside of Dez's house without Dez being around. Something like sorrow tugged at his heart. He glanced at the wall and saw picture frames. There was one of Dez hanging on the wall. He was grinning and standing next to Austin and Mr. Donald. They were in about eighth grade. Austin smiled slightly.

"What are you guys doing here?" Didi asked, guiding them into the living room to sit down.

"We..." Ally glanced at Austin then back to Didi, "We wanted to talk about...what happened to Dez."

Didi looked at her confused. "What about it?" she asked. Ally could tell the topic still made Didi uncomfortable. After all, the family had stopped talking about it now considering it made them emotional and upset.

"Are your parents around?" Austin blurted, glancing around.

"No, they went to movies. It's their anniversary." Didi said. "Why do you want to talk about what happened to Dez?"

"It's unfair, Didi," Austin said, "That they never solved what happened. Ally and I just want to check some things out and maybe get the case going again." He left out the part where he and Ally wanted to solve the entire case by themselves.

Didi didn't argue with that. She was a little bit flattered that they wanted to help. Didi looked at Ally and then to Austin again, "Thanks," she said softly, "But maybe you shouldn't. The cops couldn't find anything, you won't either. It's just a mystery now."

"It shouldn't stay a mystery," Ally said, "We need to solve it."

Didi looked at Ally. "What do you guys want to know?"

"Did Dez tell you where he was going?" Austin questioned, "Did he mention anything about the school?"

"I went through this with the cops already, guys," Didi sighed, "He said he had a serious phone call and he was going to be right back. That's it. That's all he said. He ran out of the house and I guess ran all the way to the school. He never said that's where he was going but it's obviously where he ended up. He never came back." Didi's voice cracked slightly at the end of her sentence.

Ally looked at her lap, feeling sorry for Didi. She slowly glanced over at Austin who was also looking away from Didi. He was in deep thought. He looked at Didi again. "Did he ever mention anything to you before...that night?"

Didi shook her head, "No...Never. He was just always himself. He never even acted differently. He was still being annoying, goofy, a nice kid."

"Did he ever make any new friends?" Ally wondered out loud. Didi shook her head.

"No. I don't think so." Didi said. Austin and Ally slowly nodded. This case seemed lost. There was no information anywhere. No evidence, no details. It was a lost cause. Austin started to wonder if solving it was pointless.

Didi's eyes caught Ally's. "Trish called me."

"She what?" Ally replied, eyes a little bit wider than normal.

Didi nodded slowly, staring at Ally for a long moment. "She said you stopped taking your pills." Ally stared back at Didi. She could feel Austin's stare on her, but she didn't understand why everyone cared so much. It was her life, not theirs. She could do what she wanted, couldn't she? "Why would you do that?"

"I'm fine." Ally growled.

"You told us that before they had to send you to the shrink and later to the hospital." Didi scowled. Ally rolled her eyes.

"I was thirteen. I'm better now." Ally assured her.

Didi narrowed her eyes, laughing slightly bitterly. "You don't just get better from something like that. That shit's for life."

Ally stood up, feeling hostile and annoyed. "Don't talk to me like that. Don't even look at me like the way you are right now. I'm fine. Nothing's happened."

"Alright," Didi said, looking up at Ally, "If you're sure you're fine."

"Trish said she wouldn't tell." Ally's bottom lip curled out angrily.

"No, Trish promised that she wouldn't tell your parents. She didn't say anything about telling anyone else." Didi said, "At least...That's what she told me."

"Fuck you." Ally spat.

Didi looked alarmed for a moment before her features softened and she sighed, "Ally," Didi looked at her, "Don't do this to yourself."

"Don't tell me what to do." Ally replied snidely, "Come on, Austin, we're going."

"Wait, Ally-"

"-Let's go!" she interjected angrily. Austin looked back at Didi who looked at him apologetically. Austin got up and followed Ally out of the house. Austin followed Ally until she made it to the park bench and plopped herself down.

Austin slowly sat down beside her. It was silent for a moment before he said, "You're not taking your pills?"

Ally didn't look at him. She had her arms crossed as she stared at the ground. "No."

"Why?" he questioned.

Ally chortled bitterly. "You try taking those goddamn pills." she bit out snidely. After a moment, she added, "They mess me up."

"You're messed up without them, too." Austin replied.

"I don't care what you think." Ally growled, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on her knees.

Austin shrugged and nodded his head. Another moment of silence fell upon them before Austin asked, "What happens when you don't take your pills?"

Ally shook her head, picking at a piece of wood on the park bench with her finger nail. "I just see some messed up stuff. I hear messed up stuff." Ally replied grumpily, the self-hatred evident in her voice.

"You should go back on your pills. Obviously you don't want to, but maybe you should. At least until we solve who killed Dez." Austin said. Ally glanced at him and then looked away. Austin leaned his head back on the bench. "When did you stop taking them?"

"A couple weeks ago." Ally mumbled, "Nothing's happened." she assured him again, although it was a lie considering what happened back in the library. But it was the first time anything like that has showed up since she came off of her meds, so Ally dismissed it. Austin slowly nodded. He knew he couldn't force her to take her pills so he would just have to deal with solving a murder case with a lunatic. "I'm not crazy, okay?" Ally said.

"That's what all the crazy people say." Austin said, glancing over at her. Ally laughed slightly and nodded her head.

"I know." she said.

"But if you say so." Austin said, "But the second you start talking to thin air, you're not helping me with anymore." Austin added. Ally glanced at him, smiling slightly. She shoved him lightly.


	4. Chapter 4

Ally was sitting on the couch, across from Trish and her step mother. The weather network was on. Ally focused on the TV, ignoring her father who was singing to himself in the kitchen and her step mom who told him to be quiet while they watched the television.

The weather man turned around on the screen and focused on Ally's face. Ally frowned slightly. "You need to solve this, Ally." he said, looking at her intently, "You need to give Dez his justice. You can solve this case."

"Did you hear that, Lester?" Trish shouted over the sound of Lester's singing from the kitchen. Ally looked over at Trish and her step mom who didn't seem alarmed by what the weatherman just said to Ally. "Weatherman said that we're having pouring rain all day Saturday! I guess we can't go to your stupid parade after all!" Trish grinned.

Ally looked at Trish confused then back to the weatherman. According to Ally, the weatherman had said nothing about rain. The weatherman stared at Ally. "Save him, Ally. You can save him, can't you? I know who did it, Ally." Ally's eyes widened on the weatherman. "Follow me."

It appeared out of nowhere - The small butterfly. Ally narrowed her eyes at it. It took a moment before she slowly got up from the couch and followed the butterfly. It was the most beautiful she'd ever seen. It was a vibrant blue with yellow speckles along the edges of its fluttering wings. It took her upstairs.

It slipped into the door of her father's and step mother's room. She stopped walking, looking at it oddly before she started walking again. She slipped into the room and the butterfly was gone. She looked around the room in confusion.

Ally continued to glance around the room. She was stuck in confusion, looking for something but the butterfly was out of sight. There was nothing here except for Ally who looked like a lost puppy as she wandered around the room confusedly. It was just the bed and beautifully painted walls with picture frames. She ran her hand along the dresser seeing the picture of Dez's face there along with her step-mother's perfume and make up.

Ally shook her head. She glanced out the window, but not even out the window was there anybody. It was just the sidewalk and a few cars passing by on the roads. Ally sighed and left the room.

**. . . . . . **

Ally was slumped on the black couch. She was staring at the walls of certificates and photos while her therapist, Mrs. Demonica Dixon, stared back at her as she twiddled a pen in her hands. Demonica waited a moment before speaking up, "There's been rumors that you've stopped taking your pills."

Ally looked back at her before she looked down at her shoes, rubbing them together. "Yeah, I did."

"Trish told me. She mentioned that you made her swear not to tell your father. Why's this?" Demonica said.

Ally looked at her therapist, "My Dad would send me back to Tampa. I've told you about my Mom, she gets too protective. She'd throw me into an asylum. I don't belong in an asylum."

Demonica nodded her head. "You've been off of them for a while now?"

Ally nodded. "3 weeks now."

"Quite some time." Demonica said. Ally nodded. "How have you been doing over those three weeks?"

"Good." Ally paused, "I made a friend."

"A friend?" echoed Demonica, "Is this friend real or imaginary?"

"He's real." Ally replied.

"It's a boy?" responded her therapist, looking a tad surprised. Ally had never brought up boys before. "Do you still think about boys a lot, Ally?"

Ally looked at her. "Well, of course I do, I'm not a broken toy."

"Do you like this boy?" questioned Demonica.

Ally laughed, "No." she shook her head. "Austin's...Well, I don't think he's cool but he thinks he's cool and so does the rest of the school. But he's just helping me out."

"He knows about your emotional issues?" Demonica quizzed, eye brows up.

"He's not helping me with those, but he does know about them." Ally answered.

"What is he helping you with?" Demonica questioned.

Ally swallowed, "Dez." she said.

Demonica stared at Ally for a moment. "Are you still upset about Dez, Ally?"

"Sometimes," Ally fidgeted, "I think it's unfair that somebody like him died. He was a good cousin. He was Austin's best friend. Austin thinks he deserves justice and I do, too. We're...trying to see if we can piece a little bit of it together. We're just asking people some questions, but we're not so sure it's going to work. Nobody knows anything."

Demonica nodded her head. "Does he know you're not taking your pills?"

"Yes." Ally replied.

"How about your mental state? Has anything happened since you've been off the pills?" Demonica questioned.

"Of course."Ally answered.

"What kind of things have been happening?" Demonica questioned.

"Just stuff." Ally replied. Demonica nodded. "The weatherman talked to me yesterday. He said he knew who did it."

"And do you think he knows who did it?" Demonica questioned.

"I don't know." replied Ally.

Demonica smiled at Ally, "I think we've spoken a good amount today." Ally nodded.

**. . . . . . **

"Austin! Austin, I know who did it!" Ally shrieked, jumping down next to him at the park bench. Austin looked over at alarmed.

"You do?" Austin questioned, wide eyed.

"Well, Not exactly, but I know somebody who knows who it was." Ally said.

"Well, who?" Austin pressed.

"Okay, so I don't exactly know him but I know where he is. He could tell us." Ally said. Austin looked at her oddly. "Just come on!" she ushered him. Ally grabbed his hand and dragged him away from the park bench and took him to his car. "You need to drive to the News Station."

"Why?" Austin looked at her weirdly, searching his pockets for his keys.

"Austin, I said I know who knows about this!" Ally exclaimed. Austin took a deep breath and nodded. He found his keys and both of them jumped inside the car. Austin drove to the News Station. He wasn't who would possibly be there, but Ally seemed sure of this.

They got to the News Station and Ally was quick to scurry inside the building. "Ally, wait!" Austin shouted, trying to catch up to her.

"Hurry, Austin!" Ally shrieked, "We don't have all the time in the world!"

"Technically, we do," Austin said, looking at her. She shook her head, because in her mind, they didn't. In her mind, she had to do this soon or even sooner than soon. "Who are we looking for now?"

"You'll see," Ally said. Ally's not even sure how she knew how to get where she was going but she found it. She got upstairs and just in time she saw Larry Kidman, the weatherman. Her eyes widened when she saw him and she dashed to him.

"Whoa, kids." Larry looked at them alarmed, wondering why they were here. He looked down at his coffee, making sure he didn't spill any of it when Ally had ran up to him. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, you can." Ally said, "Dezmond Wade, my cousin, he was murdered two years ago and you know who did it."

Austin's eyes widened as he looked at Larry skeptically, wondering if this was true. He was the weatherman after all, there could've been a chance that perhaps the media knew something about this.

"I'm sorry?" Larry looked at her, struck with confusion and astonishment.

"My cousin. You know who killed him." Ally repeated.

"No...I...I'm sorry. I don't know a Dezmond or who killed him - my condolences, by the way - but I'm sorry, you've got the wrong man." Larry said apologetically. He was about to walk off when Ally grabbed his arm.

She shook her head. "No...No...You know who did it." she repeated. He looked at her oddly.

Austin looked at Ally, "Ally, stop. Obviously you were wrong." Austin said. He then looked at Larry, "We're sorry."

Ally scowled at Austin, "No, Austin, Larry knows who did it!" Ally turned back to Larry, "You told me! A few days ago. You told me that you knew who did it." Ally said again.

Larry slowly shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. I don't recall. I've never even seen you before." Ally's heart rate started to pick up in speed, her breathing got slightly heavy. Why was he denying it? Had she heard him wrong? "Now, pardon me, but I've got to be in the news room in about eight minutes." He then walked off.

Austin watched him walk away. Ally turned around and looked up at Austin. He noticed the tears in her eyes. "What was that about?" Austin questioned her, wondering why she was so determined that he knew because it was obvious he didn't. Nobody could fake confusion that well.

Ally scrubbed her fingers through her hair, "Austin, I'm not lying. He told me...He...He told me on Thursday night that he knew who did it. You need to believe me, he told me that he knew!" Ally said, a tear fell down her cheek.

Something was quite right with what she was telling him. Austin grabbed her shoulders, causing her to look him in the eye, "Where did he tell you? How did he tell you?" Austin asked.

"In my living room," she told him, "He told me...He told me from the TV screen."

Austin's features softened. He lowered his head, sighing slightly. He looked back at her. "Let's get out of here." he said. Ally stood there for a moment before she followed him out of the building. She clenched her fists so tight that she felt her fingernails cut into her palms. The further she got away from the building, the more it added up in her messed up brain that she had hallucinated it.

They sat in Austin's vehicle in silence. Ally stared out the window. Austin drummed his fingers on the wheel. Ally wondered what Austin thought now as she came to the acceptance that Larry really had no idea about Dez's case and who did it, and she'd imagined him talking to her just like she imagined the butterfly. Ally wondered if he thought she was crazy, if he didn't want her to help him anymore. She wouldn't blame him, she could just lead him in all the wrong places. Though she knew one thing, she didn't care what he thought, she was not going back on those pills. It wasn't fair that she had to live on them, she wanted freedom and freedom was not being stuck on pills.

Finally, without a word, Austin put the car into drive and started driving away. He wondered about her helping him now. How often would this happen? How often would she think she has the answers just to realize she had none? How often would he witness that she's not in the right mental state to do something like this? He didn't want to tell her that she couldn't do this with him, she was the only person who cared to figure this out like him and he knew he couldn't do it by himself.

"So," Austin broke the silence, "You lied; Things have been happening."

"It doesn't matter." Ally replied.

"Yeah, it does, Ally. This is your mental health that you're screwing with." Austin said. He felt like he was parenting her, it made him cringe. He never wanted to be one of those people who scolds another person because he disagreed with their actions but Ally was another case, Ally was jeopardizing her sense of reality. She was letting herself fade right out of it until she probably wouldn't be able to know what it was anymore.

"Why do you care about my mental health?" Ally questioned him, grumpily.

"Because, technically, we're partners," Austin said, glancing over at her, "That sounds effed up, I know, but you're the one helping me with Dez and I need to know that we can do this." Austin said. Ally remained quiet.

"I'll be just fine." she said softly after a moment.

"Will you?" Austin pressed. Ally rolled her eyes and leaned her head against the window. "Ally, why don't you just take your pills? It'll make your whole life so much easier!"

"How would you know?" Ally snapped, looking over at him, "You don't take those pills! What would you know about them making things easier?"

Austin sighed, "I just meant for your mentality, Ally."

"My mentality is fine." Ally assured him.

"Yeah, that's why the weatherman talked to you through the TV screen." Austin bit back. Ally stayed silent and slowly looked out the window. Austin glanced over at her and sighed again. He knew it was wrong of him to say it but he didn't apologize. He had a feeling things might be difficult with Ally not taking her pills, but he also knew she wasn't going to take them even if he asked nicely, so he was going to have to deal with it. He had no other choice, he needed Ally for this.


	5. Chapter 5

_"Austin! Austin! I finished the project! I guess it took a lot of work, but it was well worth it!" Dez grinned goofily at his best friend. He was so focused on Austin's reaction, that he didn't notice the odd looks Austin's new friends were giving him. Dez was waiting expectantly for the wide grin to split Austin's face and shout out an 'Awesome!' but he never did. Dez cocked his head to the side, confusion evident on his features._

_Austin insecurely looked over at his newly made friends and then back to Dez. Kira arched her eye brows and Jace gave him a pointed look. Austin took a deep breath and gave Dez a nervous smile. "Dez, Can I talk to you?"_

_"Sure, man, what is it?" Dez questioned, smiling over at Austin's new group politely and then his smile widening a little more when he looked back at his best friend. Austin swallowed hard and distanced himself away from the group so he could tell Dez where nobody would quite hear him. He waved Dez over and Dez followed. "Austin?" he looked at him oddly._

_"So," Austin said, his nervous smile wobbling, "I got invited to Elliott's party."_

_"Awesome!" Dez's eyes lit up, "We've dreamed of this moment! I told you joining the football team was a good idea!" Dez said, encouragingly. Austin forced himself not to feel the guilt. This was ninth grade, there was no need for that. Austin remembered what his mom said: People change, people grow apart, it's a part of life. _

_"Y...Yeah," stammered Austin, "One thing...One detail...One minor, minor detail," Austin said, giving Dez an anxious glance. Dez waited patiently. "You, uhm, you're not invited."_

_"I'm not invited?" Dez echoed, confusion in his voice._

_"Well...You see...I'm on the football team...You're in the Chess Club and the Science Club...They're not...They're not the same-"_

_Dez's face hardened. "You mean...I'm not cool enough."_

_"No!" Austin shrieked. He looked over at his new friends who were waiting on him. He felt pressured to do this face. Just a quick reason why they can't be friends, how does he say it? "I just...Things are changing, Dez."_

_"What does that mean?" Dez wondered, offended._

_Austin took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "It means..." he trailed off slightly. He shook his head, his thoughts racing. It was better to get this over with. "It means there's not going to be anymore arcade nights or weekends...Movie nights...Video Games...Hanging out...All of that, it's over. I mean...I mean we can't...I can't be your friend anymore, Dez."_

_Dez stared at his best friend. The blonde boy who befriended him in kindergarten. The guy who tossed blocks at a fat kid who called Dez too scrawny. The guy who slapped Dez over the head when he got too silly. The guy who always beat Dez in every video game. The guy who broke his legs trying to teach him how to dance. The guy who was always there. The guy who didn't want to be there anymore. _

_Dez glanced over at Austin's new group. The girls were waiting like vultures, ready to tackle him with nuisance and all of their growing 'slut', as Dez called it. The others, the football team, stood there prepared to stamp a nametag on him that read 'popularity'. Dez looked back at Austin. "What about the project?" is the only thing Dez can think to say._

_"You finished it. Thank you. I'm sure it's well done. You can take all the credit. I'm okay with a zero." Austin said. Austin didn't even look sorry. How could he not look sorry? This is worse than when Austin stole his wallet and used it to buy himself lunch at the food court in Miami's Mall without telling Dez - he looked apologetic then. But Austin wasn't there anymore. It was just some boy who was suddenly getting muscular arms, suddenly gaining a different reputation, somebody who got tired of having Dez around._

_"Okay." Dez said. His voice didn't shake, it wasn't quiet, it was normal. But everything was there in his eyes: the anger, the hurt, the annoyance. Dez slowly turned around and walked away. He glanced over his shoulder at Austin who still stood there. Austin watched Dez fade into the bodies in the hallway._

Austin sighed, pulling himself out of the memory. He ran a hand over his face, laying down on his bed. He glanced over at the shelf. It was the Science project. Dez had turned it in and got the good grade, he still wrote Austin's name on it and Austin still got the good mark. He never ever said thank you to Dez. In fact, that time in the hallway was the last time they spoke. The teacher adored the project so much he kept it, but when Dez was killed, the science teacher gave it to Austin as a 'keepsake'.

Austin stared at it for a few more moments before he got out of a bed in a haste. He walked to his window and rolled it up with so much strength, he heard it clink. He grabbed the project and tossed it out the window and watched it smash along the side of his house. Stupid objects that represented some sort of electricity circuit fell apart on his lawn, haunting him with the sound of Dez's _I finished the project! _Austin stared out the window, he was breathing heavily. He should've helped him. He should've gotten off of his lazy ass and walked to Dez's house, he should have spent that time with Dez to help him make the circuit. He should have been there. He should have never quit on Dez.

When the air started to make his skin gather goose bumps, Austin slid the window shut. Suddenly, his door opened. He turned around and saw his mother standing there with a frown on her face. "What's with all the slamming going on up here?" she questioned him.

"Nothing," Austin sighed, "I was just...opening my window."

She looked at him oddly, "Alright. I thought you were heading to Jace's tonight?"

He had forgotten about the party. He didn't want to go. If he went, he'd have to act like he wasn't still beating himself up for choosing them over Dez, If he went he'd have to drink and have a great time when all he really wants is to find out who killed Dez.

"I'm not going." Austin said, making his final decision.

"Why not?" Mimi, his mother, asked.

"It's not worth it." Austin grumbled. He could definitely see all the things he never thought about when he was fifteen. He never thought about the later, it was all about the here and the new, he never once considered that these people were full of themselves, that they didn't care, that they only wanted to drink all day, Austin's not even sure if they know that he wants to attend college someday. Maybe become an officer - he made that decision when Dez was killed. He thought about music a lot, but decided it was nothing other than a hobby. He wondered about becoming a detective often.

"What's wrong?" Mimi questioned, noticing the troubled look on his face.

"Nothing, Mom. I'm fine. I'm tired I've...got homework." Austin said.

Mimi stared at him and nodded. She glanced at his bed and her face softened slightly. She walked over. Austin looked at her and saw the object she picked up. He sighed slightly, looking at his feet before looking at her. She had a look of sorrow on her face as she showed him Dez's picture before looking at it again, "You've been thinking about him?"

"He deserves something more than _Oh-Well-He's-Gone_." Austin said, his voice slightly snide. Mimi smiled sadly and nodded in agreement.

"It's too bad they never caught who did it." Mimi said. "Dez was such a pleasure to have around. It's a shame you two stopped hanging out."

The guilt was there again. "Can we not talk about this, Mom?" Austin asked, impatiently. Mimi nodded. She set the picture on his desk.

"Remember, I'm here to talk." Mimi told him. Austin nodded his head but knew he'd never talk to her about it. She'd throttle him if she knew that he was trying to figure out a crime with nobody other than Dez's cousin. "Get some sleep tonight." She left the room.

Austin laid on his bed for an hour or two before he sighed. His head was aching from thinking too much. He got out of his bed and slipped into his leather jacket. He grabbed his keys and walked down the stairs. His father was napping on the couch, his reading glasses still in place. He could the sound of his mother's humming coming from the kitchen. He left without a goodbye.

Despite having grabbed his keys, Austin didn't take his car. He walked. He needed the air anyways. He kicked at twigs and pebbles as he wondered along the streets. The street lamps created a hollow glow that made him feel a little bit more guilty.

He made it to the party but he didn't go outside. He laid down on the lawn and stared at the stars. The thrumming of the sick beat inside the party house made him feel at ease. He pointed out the big dipper to himself and other constellations that Dez had taught him about. Dez was a science nerd. Austin had been, too, once upon a time but Austin stopped thinking about Sciences when he joined the football team. Austin hardly has fun during football, he likes basketball or badminton more, but he never says a word to anyone.

"Austin, what are you doing out here?" Brooke drops down next to him. She's not drunk but she smells of alcohol, Austin wonders if it's the disappointment she wears on herself like perfume. He wasn't stupid. He knew she was always disappointed in herself. She had joked about it to Elliott once, how she wished she could ace her math's but never could get there. Elliott laughed in her face but Austin always had this notion like she was serious. She wanted to be good at math, but she just wasn't. Austin didn't blame her. He hates math. He's not bad at it, but it makes his head hurt.

"Staring." he said flatly. Brooke was still annoying. She was still the girl who followed him everywhere and obsessed over him. The obsession was kind of flattering, for the first two years anyway, now it's annoying and sometimes he wants to just throw himself in front of a bus so he doesn't need to deal with her anymore.

She giggled lightly and snuggled closer to him. Austin moved away slightly. She seemed to get the message because she didn't bother getting any closer. "I can see that, but why? We thought you weren't going to show."

"Well, I did." Austin said, blunt and simple. Brooke looked at him oddly and then slowly looked up at the stars, too. She just saw things that looked like diamonds, it didn't wow her. "There's constellations. The big dipper is right there. You can see it clearly." he said, pointing.

Brooke saw it but didn't fall into a state of awe. "Yeah, I see it. You didn't answer my question: Why are you out here? Why are you just laying here and staring at the stars?"

"Because I didn't want to go inside. I didn't feel like partying today." Austin replied.

"Why not? You like parties. You told us that like two weeks ago. You said that you can't imagine a day when you can't party-"

"I know what I said." Austin snapped.

She looked at him startled before focusing on the sky again. "Is there a reason for your attitude?"

"You're annoying as hell." Austin said honestly. By this point, he didn't think he could ever feel sorry for saying something so rude to someone. He was hardly thinking straight as he was strapped to the thought of Dez and feeling the guilt. "Aren't you and Kira mad at me?"

"No." Brooke responded.

"Wrong answer." Austin said.

"You wanted us to be?" Brooke questioned.

Austin nodded. "If it got you to leave me alone, then yeah." Austin said.

Brooke shook her head. "If you don't want to party, then why are you here?" she questioned.

Austin thought about it. He furrowed his eye brows. "I really don't know. I guess I wanted to go in but I just can't right now. I need to think about stuff." Austin replied. He scrunched up his nose in disgust when a kid ran out of the house, retching on the front lawn.

"Gross," mumbled Brooke. She tried to ignore the awful sound. "Why do you need to think about stuff? This is senior year. Enjoy it. Don't waste it on stuff that's not important."

Austin glared at her, "You don't have to worry about anything what would you know?"

"Actually, I have a lot to worry about, Austin!" she hissed. Austin looked at her. "My Dad's a drunk, I have a two year old brother at home who my mother refuses to come home to, and I have to pull all of my bad grades up so I can actually get my diploma this year. I have a lot going on and a lot to worry about!"

Austin was silent for a moment. He felt kind of bad now. So maybe she did have stuff going on, but he selfishly thought it was nothing compared to what's going on with him. He ditched his best friend, his (ex) best friend was murdered, nobody solved the case which pissed him off, he feels distant from all his friends, and now he's trying to solve the case of his best friend with somebody who won't get her shit together and take some goddamn pills!

Austin shook his head. With that thought, he stood up and felt annoyed by the air of Brooke pitying herself. He dusted the grass off of himself and then looked at Brooke who stared at him. Her eyes sparkled like she was waiting for some heartwarming speech or maybe for him to help her up and take her for a slow dance outside but he didn't do any of that. He hardly dreamed of it.

"You know, Brooke, You do have a lot going on," he agreed, "I'm sorry that your dad drinks himself away, I'm sorry that your mother fails at doing her job, I'm sorry that it all leaves you to take care of your sibling like their your own kid, and I'm sorry that you don't see that you really are smart." Austin said, "You bullshit everyone with this attitude like you're so stupid, like you can't do anything for yourself. It's so simple, Brooke, to get those grades up. It's the easiest thing actually. All you have to do is pull your head out of your ass and stop following me and other boys around like we're a piece of gold that you need to get your greasy hands on." His smile was wry.

Brooke was used to Austin's impoliteness being directed towards other students but not to her. She was mad that he said that to her. She really did try in school but she seemed to always fail. Why didn't he get that? "Fuck you, Austin Moon!" She got up and marched inside.

"Stupid bitch," Austin grumbled. Who parties when they should probably be looking after their sibling? He shook his head. If he had a sibling that young at home with parents like hers, he'd never party. Then again, he ditched his best friend just so he could be cool.

**. . . . . **

Austin could see Ally's eyes were getting worse. They looked swollen, maybe from sleep deprivation, and she had dark, almost-purple circles laying beneath them, also probably from sleep deprivation. She slouched in her seat as she was waiting for the teacher to stop talking. They were watching a movie in class today and everyone was thanking God that there was no work that needed to be done.

Austin stared at her back. It was funny really, how she asks if he's going to ignore her and so far she's been the one ignoring him. As if he was the un-cool one, as if he wasn't worth the time to wave or smile at. He didn't mind though, it gave him the chance to not have to explain himself to his friends because they really were a nosey bunch.

"Can we just watch the movie now?" Elliott blurts out, half-groaning. Ms Hadley looks over at him with annoyance.

"Can you just not talk in my class for once?" she shoots back. For an old lady, she really is sassy. The class snickers. Finally, she turns out the light once the TV is playing some old 90's health movie. It's boring and everyone realizes they'd rather be doing work than watching it, but they'll take what they can get.

_Are you listening, Ally? _

She glances around the room for a moment to see if anybody else heard it, but they're still poker-faced staring at the TV screen. Ally knows she's the only one that heard it.

_This might be important. You need to listen._

She can even hear the heavy breathing it has. It's almost breathing inside her eardrums but there's no lips next to her ears. The breathing is loud and it almost cuts into the sound of the movie but she keeps her vision on the screen. It wasn't too bad, having this inside her head was like having an imaginary friend. She would never get too lonely. That's what Ally told herself anyways.

_Ally, you're not listening. You've got to listen to the movie._

She wanted to bark out 'I'm listening!' but she hardly has the energy. It's school. She's always tired in school. The voice is so close, it's almost like it's the person next to her saying these things but it's not. For a moment, it nearly fools her into checking to see if it really was somebody behind her but she knows better. It's not a normal voice either. Sometimes they come like normal, other times they sound like they've been auto-tuned five thousand times, other times they can have an accent, sometimes they even come in the style of an old cartoon. She swore when she was thirteen, before she was sent to the hospital, that she heard Woody from Toy Story talking to her. She doesn't share that story. People always think it's scary or weird.

She focused on the movie and once she did that, the voices didn't bother her anymore. It's over before she knows it and Ms Hadley wants to hand out papers about the movie. Each student gets one and very nonchalantly fill it out. It wasn't hard but Ally found it distracting when the words kept scrambling. Her mind was falling apart again and she knew it.

_You're so stupid, Ally. Take your goddamn pills._ The words gathered together read out. She knew that's not what the paper really said. Or did she? She couldn't tell anymore. She swallowed down hard. She blinks twice. Nothing. It still says it.

"Ally," Ms Hadley says, "What did you write for answer number one?"

Had fifteen minutes already gone by? Ally shakes off her curious question and looks at Ms Hadley before she looks at the paper. The words are back to normal again. She doesn't have an answer. "Uh," she said before grinning at Ms Hadley, "Nothing except the fact that the movie was freaking dumb."

The class cackles. It's so agreeable. It was dumb. It was about love and hate and to remember not to fall towards the hate of the world. They must love the world! Stupid. Ms Hadley gives Ally a sharp look. "Ally Dawson...What did you write for number one?"

"I can't read, dammit." Ally smirks and she's afraid it's going to wobble because technically it was the truth. The class laughs again and Ms Hadley looks like she's about to turn red with fuming anger. Austin doesn't laugh, or rolls his eyes, or grunt in frustration like Ms. Hadley, he knows she's telling the truth and he tries not to feel bad but she seems to be the only person he's been starting to empathize. He runs fingers through his hair and silently yells at her to take her pills. It'll all go away if she just takes her pills.

"Ally Dawson," she snapped. She walked towards her and snatched the paper. Ally lifted her arms in defense, sending a nonchalant look to Ms Hadley. The class is amused, Ms Hadley is not because her paper is literally blank. She hadn't even scribbled down her name. "You have earned detention after school, scrubbing this classroom clean!"

The class 'Ooh's' and laughs. Ally smirks at Ms Hadley but it's ignored as she calls on somebody else for the answer and then jots it down on the board. Ally sneaks a glance over her shoulder at Austin. He shakes his head slightly. It's not condescending or a _goaway_ gesture. She knows what it means: _Why don't you just take your goddamn pills_. She hates that he knows she wasn't lying.


	6. Chapter 6

Austin stops at the door. His book bag was slung over his shoulder. He watches Ally clean the whiteboard spotless with cleaner and a rag. She glances over and rolls her eyes. "Don't." she said in a warning voice.

"What were you seeing?" Austin wondered. He figured now that he knew about the small fiasco when her mind had tricked her into believing the weatherman knew about Dez's case that Austin now had the right to know everything. However, Ally thought differently.

"I didn't see anything." Ally lied but it didn't matter if she would have been telling the truth either, he didn't need to know anything. They're hardly friends. Austin stared at her. She knew that he knew she was lying, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being right. "You shouldn't be here."

"Well, I am." Austin replied, walking into the classroom and sitting on one of the front desk's.

"Ms. Hadley is going to get mad and you're going to extend my detention plus earn yourself your own." Ally said, "I don't know about you but I have better things to do than be in detention."

'Things like talk to imaginary people?" Austin shot back. He knew his remark was cold but he didn't care. Ally didn't seem to be too sensitive either. She glared at him.

"Things like help my cousin get his justice." she growled through gritted teeth. Austin stared at her. "I know you think I'm just a lunatic but I'm not. Not completely. I still have a little bit of my soul left." she bit out.

She continued, changing the subject, "Why are you here?"

"It's easy being around you." Austin said. She glanced over at him and then focused on making the board completely spotless which was difficult with all the smudge marks. "There's not much to...pretend." he said.

"Wow, Friendships that are based on lies and playing pretend, that sounds like the kind that only come once in a lifetime." Ally let the sarcasm ooze in her voice. Austin rolled his eyes.

"It's not like that." he denied, "They're good people, okay?"

"Hm, that's why they hated you until you stopped hanging out with my cousin." Ally said.

"Shut up, Ally!" Austin howled, angrily. "You don't know shit! You're just some chick psycho chick who's helping me bust a some bitch!"

By his use of vocabulary, Ally knew she hit a nerve. "Moody," Ally smirked at him, dropping her bottle and rag down onto a desk. She dropped her smirk. "If you're not going to leave, then you have to help me move these desks to the side. I have to mop. I've got a whole list here and I can't leave until it's done." Ally said, handing him a piece of paper that he hesitantly took.

"Reorganize the bookshelf in alphabetical order?" Austin read out, looking at her, "Wow, your job is fun."

Ally shook her head and started moving the desks. Austin jumped off his desk and started pushing the other desks as well. "What if Ms Hadley catches you in here?"

"She won't. I just witnessed Jace punch some kid in the nose and I frantically forced her to go help. You know how she gets." Austin said, gesturing to the fact that Ms Hadley tends to be the mothering type. Ally laughed slightly.

When all the desks were pushed to the side, Ally walked to the hallway and wheeled the mop into the classroom. "The thing that sucks is that I could totally leave right now but if I do, I'll probably have more work to do tomorrow."

Austin laughed slightly. He jumped up on the teacher's desk and watched as Ally slapped the mop to the floor, the soapy water cleansing the smooth, hard floor. "What did you do last night?" he questioned, trying to make small talk.

Ally didn't seem to fazed by it. She shrugged her shoulders. "My step-sister forced me to go shopping with her and her other friends. I hate shopping. I don't like walking for two hours just to buy things that you're gonna just toss in your closet and forget about the next day."

"You make a valid point." Austin said. The room fell silent again. "So," Austin started, breaking it, "Why did you stop taking your pills?" He saw her sigh heavily. "Not trying to bombard you with this topic, I'm just trying...to understand it. I mean, they help you. Wouldn't you want help?"

"The pills make me feel dead and tired and ugh." Ally said, scrunching up her face like it was so disgusting to talk about meds. It probably was to her, Austin decided.

"Don't you feel even more dead when you're not taking them?" Austin asked. Ally looked at him. "You look kinda dead, that's why I'm asking."

Ally laughed slightly and shook her head as she continued to smother the floor with the mop. "No, in fact, it makes me feel more alive." Ally said. Austin narrowed his eyes in confusion. "You know you're really alive when you have the most fucked up life, the most fucked up head, and you can't get out of it. When you're stuck and trapped inside your own mind. That's how you know you're alive."

Austin stared at her for a moment. He let her words sink in. It must be hard to live like her, he thought to himself, never knowing what's real and what's not. He's still confused why she's doing this to herself. He watched her mop the floor for a few moments. "What's it like?" he asked softly, "The...The schizophrenia...What's that like?"

Ally looked over at him. She held onto the stick of the mop before she focused on continued to clean the floors again. "There's no way I can explain it where you'll ever understand." Ally told him honestly, "But if I'm going to try...I'd tell you that every day is like going to war, you have to fight for peace. A peace of mind. But the tragic thing is," she looked over at him, "You never find it. You just get worse and worse and worse." Austin stared at her, his heart tugged.

"And you're willing to just live like that? Fighting for yourself?" Austin questioned.

"Yeah," Ally nodded her head, "Because it's not fair that nobody else has to take pills. Why should I?" Ally questioned. _Because you're mentally fucked up_, Austin felt like saying but he didn't. He nodded instead. After all, it was her life, she could do what she wanted and he didn't have a say in it.

**. . . . . **

Austin couldn't sleep that night. The more he and Ally carried on with the case, the more he obsessed over it. It was all he thought about night and he was being haunted by the memories of Dez. He glanced at his clock. It was two in the morning. He decided that he needed some air.

He slipped out the door, tugging his leather jacket onto his arms. He ran his fingers through his blonde mess of hair and sighed. He could see his breath in the night air. Tonight was colder than usual, it felt haunting. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.

He was walking towards the park to take a seat on the bench when he noticed somebody sitting there. Somebody with their hands over their ears and their knees pressed towards their chest. He recognized the chestnut hair that looked messier than usual, like the stranger had just raked themselves from their bed. Probably did, too. As he got closer, he knew it was Ally. She wasn't shaking but her eyes were closed and her ears were covering her ears like earmuffs. He stood behind her, hands still in his pockets.

"Ally." Austin called, looking down at her.

It was like she snapped out of something. She jumps, her eyes open wide, and she takes her hands from her ears. She gazes around the park, like she's looking for something but she doesn't find it. She slowly glances up and sees Austin. She looks scared but then she grins slyly at him.

He rounds the bench and plops down next to her. He stares at her for a moment before looking out at the view. He lets his eyes roam along the grass blades that seem to be holding a form of dew on them from the coolness of the night.

"What are you doing here?" Ally questioned, dropping her legs and letting her feet touch the cold ground.

"I could ask you the same thing." Austin said.

"I like staying up at night. It's always calm and sometimes haunting." Ally replied.

"I couldn't sleep." Austin said. "I feel like the case needs to be solved."

Ally suddenly flinches, "Don't say that." she mumbled. He looked at her oddly. She looks over her shoulder, shrugging down on the bench like she's trying to sink into herself, like she wants to hide. She looks around again, she swallows thickly.

"What?" Austin questioned her. He looked around but didn't see anything. Ally shook her head. She tugged her sleeves over her hands, trying to warm them. She glances over her shoulder again before crossing her arms over her chest and snuggling into herself.

"Nothing." Ally said, because she knows whatever she's feeling is all just in her head.

"I would consider us friends now." Austin said, "Okay? So you can tell me anything, Ally."

"I don't consider you my friend." Ally replied.

"Well, you should." Austin said, "I helped you finish cleaning that classroom. We could at least call each other buddies." Ally glanced over at him before she looked down at her feet.

"It's nothing." she said, "It's just..." she flinches again like whatever she needed to say was going to sting, "It's just in my head." she mumbles, her voice cracks. It's like she's telling herself, like she's trying to comfort herself, trying to soothe herself. Austin looks down at her. She looks scared again.

He looks away from her and sighs in frustration as he looks at the sky, "Just take your pills, Ally."

"I can't." her voice catches again. She pulls her legs back towards her chest, wraps her arms around them, and buries her face into her knees. Austin watches her. She's serious, he thinks to himself, she really thinks she can't take them? Why not?

He blurts it out, "Why not?"

"I can't." she repeats. Austin has a feeling that's as far as she's going to tell him about not taking her pills: she just can't take them. He notices that she's drumming her finger tips in an anxious way. She looks over her shoulder again and then puts her face back into her knee caps.

"What is it?" he asks again. Maybe he could help her somehow, after all, she is helping him, the least he could do was lend a helping hand to her as well. The easiest thing he could do was maybe calm her slightly, put her mind at ease. He knew it was more than just simple anxiety, but it was always worth a try, right?

"I just..." she swallowed, not looking at him and pressing her forehead harder onto her kneecaps until her head ached. Her breathing is a tad shaky, but only enough for him to know that she's feeling nothing more than a little bit of anxiousness. She glances over her shoulder once more and then hides her face once again into her boney knee caps. "I feel like somebody's watching me."

He stared at her for a moment, his face a mixture of confusion and pity. He looks up and glances around. He had good senses, he would know if somebody was watching them and he didn't feel that at all. He gazes hard and sees nothing. It's just them. It wasn't like there was anywhere to hide. There weren't a lot of trees around here. It was wide open space.

"There's not." he whispered, wanting to keep his voice soft for the sake of her mentality.

She whispered, too, "I told you it's in my head."

Austin stared at her with a long moment of sympathy before he twisted his body and stared up at the sky. "Is that why you came out here? You thought somebody was watching you?"

She swallowed hard. She knew it was in her head now. She trusted Austin and if he said nobody was watching, then she knew nobody was. "I tried hiding in my closet but I still...I was being watched." she mumbled. Austin looked at her.

"No, Ally, you weren't being watched. You're not being watched." Austin assured her. She slowly nodded and the more Austin convinced her that it wasn't happening, the more she could feel the odd feeling flee. She was coming back to the reality of life where she was just sitting next to Austin in a park with nobody else around.

Austin heard Ally make a muffled sound. He glanced over and realized that she had tears falling down her cheeks in rapid movements; she was crying. Austin's face softened. He straightened up. "Ally," he said, "Ally, it's okay."

She shook her head, "No, it's not." she whispered. She didn't like showing this kind of emotion to Austin but she was scared and not because she felt like she was being watched. She was scared because she hated that she had to go on pills to be normal, she was scared because she didn't want to fade out of reality and she knew she was but she could not take those pills. She couldn't do it.

Austin thought for a moment and then he acted. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and sat closer to her. "It's okay." he assured her, nudging her shoulder comfortingly. She let her head fall into his shoulder. Austin brushed a tear with his thumb. He didn't normally comfort people, especially people with emotional problems like hers, but he couldn't just watch her and not help her. After all, she was Dez's favourite cousin. Dez loved her like she was his sister, actually. That made her important to Austin.

Ally was pleased sitting next to Austin. She felt safer but she wondered how long that would last before her perception of him would be warped. She remembered flashing a knife on her father one year because the voices told her that he was plotting to kill her. What if she did that to Austin?

She dug inside her pocket. "I found this." she said, sniffling lightly. She lifted her head from his shoulder but stayed curled into his side. She pulled out the piece of paper. She handed it to him. Austin noticed it was ripped from an article. "Mr. Corelli refused to be questioned by the detectives."

Austin took the paper. "No way." he muttered. He read the small article and shook his head. "Do you think?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Ally replied. She dropped to her onto his shoulder again while he read the article.

"I can't believe this." he muttered, "And they didn't bother questioning him?"

"They tried but he wouldn't do it. He claimed it was hard on him and he didn't want to believe Dez was gone but it sounds suspicious." Ally replied. Austin nodded. He looked down at her and noticed that her eyes were fluttering.

"Are you tired?" he questioned her, gently grazing his thumb on a dried trail of tears. He wasn't sure what it was about Ally, but he felt like she was important. He guessed it was either pity or the fact that Dez loved Ally so much that Austin felt like he needed to keep her close to his heart.

Ally lied as she shook her head at him, "No."

"Do you sleep at night?" he asked after a moment. Ally shook her head. He nodded slowly. He figured that the answer would be no. He knew by the look of her face when they were in class. Her eyes were getting baggier and darker. The sleep deprivation was written on her face.

While Austin analyzes the article again, Ally's eyes close and her breathing softens. When Austin looks back at her, he sees that she's sound asleep. He stared at her for a moment. He wondered how they would do this case when she was in such a bad state, but he would need her for this, so he'd need to learn how to deal with it.

After a few moments. He shifts and cradles her into his arms and gets up from the bench. He walks down the street that led to her house. He recalled watching her walk down this street numerous times and he only knows he's at her place when he sees her step-sister, Trish, standing outside. She notices him and notices Ally.

"Is she okay?" she asks him, concerned.

"She's asleep. She was on the park bench just down a couple streets from here. Did you know she was gone?" Austin asked.

Trish nodded, "Yeah. She was telling me how she had to leave because somebody was trying to find her." Trish said. Austin slowly nodded. It was sad, listening to how Ally's perception was changed in every way. In ways that she couldn't stop it from happening without pills. "I tried to go after her but she went running."

"She's fine, don't worry." Austin said. Trish nodded.

"Come inside. Her rooms upstairs." Trish said. Austin nodded and followed Trish inside. He kept quiet for anybody who was sleeping in the house. He got Ally to her bed and laid her down. She was freezing and he wondered how long she sat out there before he came along.

"There you go." he whispered in Ally's ear although he doubted she'd hear it. Her eyes suddenly open tiredly and he feels bad for waking her. "Sorry." he laughs lightly. He glances to the door and sees Trish isn't there anymore. He looks back at Ally.

"You should stay." she suggests, catching him off guard. He wouldn't have expected her to invite him to stay ever but he dismissed it for her being too tired.

"Get some sleep, Ally." he said. She nodded slowly. He almost felt bad having to leave when she asked him to stay. He left the house and made his way home. He felt tired now and once his head hit his pillow, he was sound asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

A body dropped down into the chair in front of Ally. Ally glanced up and saw Austin. He had his arms crossed on the table and he was staring down at the book she was reading. "You showed up."

He finally looked at her. "Yeah. Of course I did."

"I assumed you wouldn't want to hang out with me during school." Ally said.

"We're not hanging out. It's a project." Austin said.

Ally smiled wryly, pressing her lips together and nodded her head slowly. She should've known he would've made up an excuse to hang out with her. "Ah, Right. Our project to bust a killer."

Austin rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not just going to let go of my friends and reputation for you."

"It's not for me." she snapped. "It's for Dez. In case you didn't know, the world doesn't revolve around you. I could care less whether your friends ditched you or not or even the school started writing insults all over your locker. You're not that important." she added snidely.

Austin stared at her for a moment before looking down at the book she'd been reading. "What's that?" he questioned.

"I found it in the psychology room." Ally replied, "It's about how to tell if somebody is lying. You can tell by their facial expressions or body language." she pressed her finger on the words, "Shifty eyes, dilated pupils, twitching mouth." Ally read out loud.

"Anybody could've told you that," Austin grunted, "We need something else, Ally. We need the answer to who killed Dez and this book isn't going to give it to us."

"No, but it might help us when we talk to people." Ally said. Austin then pulled out a book from his bag. Ally looked at it and saw it was an old yearbook. "Why do you have a yearbook?"

"Because it's got a staff directory inside." Austin said. He started flipping through pages until he landed on the page full of the staff. "I don't know who could've done it. All the teachers liked Dez. He was their top student."

_They're going to get you, too. _

It's a hushed voice in the back of her mind. It's whispering softly, saying that sentence on loop but it was quiet enough that Ally knew how to ignore it. She didn't know why the voice kept telling her that. It made her want to reach into her brain and shake off every thought she's had. She wanted to pull out whoever was telling her that and demand they gave her an answer.

"Ally?" Austin snapped his fingers in her face. Ally looked at him. "You zoned out. I said that maybe we should start asking around. Maybe students have good suspicions." Austin said. Ally nodded. Before Ally could respond, the bell rang. She didn't feel the ambition to get to class so she didn't move.

Austin slung his bag over his shoulder. He got up from his seat and then realized she wasn't moving, instead she just stared into the psychology book. He stared at her for a moment. He arched a brow, "Ally, the bell rang." he said.

She looked up at him and nodded, "Yeah, I know. I...I'm going to stay here. I'm going to keep reading into this." Ally said, tapping the page.

Austin watched for a moment as her eyes fell back onto the book. "Okay." he said after a moment. "Um, Will I see you after school? Maybe we could go back to Dez's place and ask to see some of his things." Austin knew seeing Dez's old things would hurt but they might find something interesting or helpful.

Ally nodded, "Yeah, That sounds good." she said. Austin nodded and left the school's library, heading to class. Ally looked down at the book, but she wasn't reading it. She had zoned out.

Today seemed like a bad day. She'd been hearing the soft voices since earlier that morning. They came and went, but they sounded so distant that she could hardly make out what they were saying. She got through her English class without hearing a thing but she could've sworn she saw somebody sitting in the teacher's chair, though it disappeared when she double checked.

"Miss Dawson."

The familiar voice snapped her out of her thoughts and put the noise in her head to a halt. She saw it was the school librarian. "Hi.." Ally said softly.

_You'll be just like Dez_

The librarian looked at her oddly. Ally was friends with the librarian. She knew that she would do anything but harm her, so it was stupid to pay a small voice any attention. Today was definitely a bad day. Ally checks over her shoulder in a paranoid manner and jumps when she feels the librarians hand on her arm.

"Are you alright?" she questioned. Ally forced a smile and nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good." Ally replied.

"Are you skipping class again?" she questioned Ally, considering Ally hadn't been going to her afternoon classes lately. She'd been obsessively looking through giant textbooks and it was started to concern the librarian.

"I just...I wanted to read today." Ally told the librarian. "Bad day." she cringes as she says it to the librarian.

_They're going to send you away! Back into the hospital, Ally._

"Alright, Tomorrow you need to attend your afternoon classes." she told Ally who nodded. She slowly walked away and Ally watched her, swallowing thickly. The voices were building.

She swallowed hard and focused on the book. She found the words scrambling. _Get out of there, Ally_. She looked around. She took a deep breath. It was getting harder to ignore everything.

Ally looked at the librarian who was flipping through papers. _She's plotting something. _Ally shook her head. _There's something behind you._ Ally checks over her shoulder and jumps.

"Whoa, Ally," her friend laughs softly, "It's just me."

_She wants to hurt you, too._

Ally ignored that. It was just her friend. "Hey, Cassidy."

"Hey. You're not in class again? Do you have a spare this period?" Cassidy questioned. Ally nodded her head. Cassidy frowned slightly. "You look...a little bit pale."

"I feel kinda sick." Ally lied. Cassidy sits down in front of Ally.

"Ally, you're not seriously doing this, are you?" she questioned with a sigh.

"I am." Ally replied, nodding her head.

"Ally, he's gone. Let it go." Cassidy said.

"I just want to see if there's something we missed." Ally said. She hadn't told Cassidy or any of her other friends about Austin. They'd flip. Austin was a player and he was super popular, they would hate to know Ally has partnered up with him for this.

"Alright." Cassidy said. "I just want to make sure you're not going to go crazy over this. I know Dez wasn't just your cousin, he was your friend, but something's just need to be put in the past." Ally nodded in agreement. She looked at her book and then to Cassidy. "I'll see at lunch tomorrow?" Cassidy questioned.

"Yeah." Ally nodded with a smile. She watched Cassidy walk away and sighed slowly. She looked down at the book. She sighed and slammed it closed when the words were still scrambled up.

**. . . . **

"Well, these are his things. Holler if you need me." Didi said and then walked upstairs obviously not wanting to look at any of it again.

Ally looked at Austin, "Are you okay?" she asked.

"Let's just see what we can find." Austin replied. Ally nodded.

She opened the box and right on the top of the pile was Dez's clothes. She smiled slightly. She pulled them out and set them neatly on the floor. She took out a few Science Fair trophy's and set them down. Austin smiled at them. He had won those trophy's with Dez. He remembered it like it was yesterday, but he chose not to fade into a flashback. Those hurt.

They didn't find much. They found notebooks and journals, but they were nothing other than scribbles of his old homework and such. They searched through the box for a few more moments before sighing. There was nothing. Maybe this really was a cold case. There was no pieces to fit into this puzzle. There was no trace of anything.

"That's everything." Austin sighed. Ally nodded her head. They stared at Dez's things that were scattered around him. They shook their heads. How could this case have no clues at all? "I don't understand," Austin voiced, "How could there be no evidence? Not even at the stupid crime scene. How is everything so perfectly covered up?"

"I don't know." Ally shrugged, "Whoever did this definitely knew what they were doing."

"Dez wouldn't go off with a stranger. It had to be someone he knew, somebody he trusted maybe." Austin said. Ally looked up at Austin who was standing over her. "What?" he asked.

"I think we need to start interviewing people." Ally said, "We can't find out anything if we just watch from a distance. We need to start getting information out of people. Somebody has to know."

Austin stared at her for a moment before he slowly nodded. "You're right. Let's start with students at school and at the arcade. Places where Dez was well-known. We'll interview the adults later."

"Okay." Ally said. Austin and Ally started putting Dez's things back into the box. They thanked Didi for the help and then left the house, getting into Austin's car. "We should start interviewing people soon. We need to think of the things we need to ask them. We have to ask them the right kinds of things, not just random scattered questions. We need to have hardcore knowledge about what we want to know."

Austin laughed slightly, "We're not detectives, Ally."

"We might as well be!" she shrieked. Austin shook his head.

Austin glanced over and saw Starbucks. "Come on, Ally. I think we're going to need coffee tonight." He parked his car. Ally followed him inside the Starbucks.

Ally was thinking intensely about who to ask when Austin appeared at the table. They were sitting near the back in the corner where nobody could interrupt them. He set down her coffee and then set down his own and took a seat.

"Who is somebody at the school who you think would know about something like this?" Ally questioned him.

"I don't know. Jerry was Dez's lab partner before he died. Jerry might know something." Austin said. Ally nodded and scribbled his name down onto a napkin. "That's all I actually know for students. Nobody cared much for Dez...I mean, they cared, we all cared, it's just...nobody was his friend after me."

"I still think you deserve the friendship award." Ally said. Austin rolled his eyes at her sarcasm. Sometimes Ally could really get on his nerves.

"We need to talk to a few kids at the arcade. I don't know if they even go there anymore. I mean, it's been two years. People grow out of that, don't they?" Austin questioned. "I guess we could somehow find them. There was a few kids who gamed with us and enjoyed Dez's company a lot. Rodger Bentley, Fred Johnston, and Charlie Howie."

Ally wrote the names. "I'm sure we can find them." Ally said. Austin nodded his head. "I mean, this case can't be totally evidence-less. There needs to be something that we can find. Even if it's something little like he was meeting up with a friend and was held hostage. I don't know."

"Held hostage?" he looked at her.

"There were ropes burns." she deadpanned. Austin shrugged. He doubted Dez was held hostage. According to Dez's family, he had left the house around eight and never came home. He was found dead on Monday Morning by the janitor at five a.m. It had obviously happened in the night.

Ally reached for the coffee when she stopped, her hand in mid air. The wor was written on the cup right where she thought Austin's name had been. It was a thin scribble in the Starbuck's workers printing.

Austin watched her. She was staring at the cup like she couldn't decide whether or not drinking it was worth it. Her hand was still reaching for it and then she swiftly grabs the cup and slowly sips the contents in the drink, flinching when it's too hot on her tongue.

He watches her again when she pulled the cup away from her mouth. She gazes at the lid for a moment. She didn't know why she felt so paranoid today or right now. She slowly pops off the lid to take a peek inside the cup. "What are you doing? What's wrong?" he asks but her mind is locked to this coffee cup. His eye brows furrow together. Ally peers at the coffee. She can tell it's definitely coffee but her pupils dilate when she swears something just jumped inside her coffee.

"Ally," Austin said, getting her attention. She looked confused and a tad curious.

"Hm, yeah?" she murmured.

"What's going on?" Austin questioned, curiously. He looked inside her cup. He wondered what she was looking at.

She looked at the coffee again. She swallows hard. She feels uncomfortable with the coffee on the table but after a moment, nothing is there. It's just coffee. Normal, good, Starbucks coffee. She looked at him. "Nothing...Nothing." she replied, "Um, What were we talking about?"

He stares at her for a moment, unsure. He cleared his throat. "You said something about Dez possibly being held hostage. I'm not very convinced of that."

She immediately engulfs herself into the conversation, completely dismembering what just happened from her brain. "It's probable!" Ally argued. "Dez could have been held hostage! Then they killed him after drugging him and torturing him!" Ally said it a little bit too loud, causing a couple customers to turn and look at them. Austin and Ally both looked at them with a grimace.

"Let's go to my place." Austin said quietly.

"Yeah, I agree." she said after a moment and then got up, following him out of the Starbucks. She hopped into the passenger side and hugged her legs to her chest. She was looking around, seeming shifty eyed.

Austin glanced over as he was driving out of Starbucks. He could see her posture was tense. His eye brows knit together again. She went from being fine, to acting strange, to be fine, to acting strange again. He ignored it and took a deep breath. He kept driving.

Soon enough, Austin pulled up at his house. Ally took her face out from her knees and looked at the house.

Austin opened the front door and gestured for her to walk in first and she insecurely did. Austin shouted for his parents and when he received no reply, Ally felt a little better knowing it would just be her with Austin. She didn't trust anyone but him at the moment. It surprised her slightly, how quickly she found herself trusting him. She thinks it was because he was best friends with Dez, another part of her thinks it's just because he makes her feel safe.

He takes her up the stairs and opens the door to his room. His closet is opened and messy, but his bed is made and there's nothing on the floor. Ally slowly sits down onto his bed. It's soft and makes her feel a little more at ease. Austin dropped his bag onto the floor and shut his bedroom door.

"This is it. This is my cave." he says her playfully. She laughs slightly. She flopped down, staring up at the ceiling. Austin lays next to her and stares at the ceiling. There were iridescent words printed on his ceiling in messy printing. It looked like her writing which confused her. She narrowed her eyes at it. It faded in and out. She knew it was a hallucination. She was started to slowly understand how to tell the difference, she hoped she'd be able to continue telling the difference as time went on. She could only make out one of the words before it faded completely: the word 'hurt'.

"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" she asked. Austin looked at her with confusion. He shook his head.

"No. No, I'm not. I wouldn't ever." Austin replied, stumbling over his words. He couldn't figure out why she would think something like that. Of course he had only know her for a couple of weeks but he would never lay a finger on her. He was raised properly and knew better.

"Okay." she replied easily. She sat up suddenly. Austin watched her, not moving. "What are you guesses?" she questioned, "What could have happened to Dez if he hadn't been held hostage? Because he disappeared without a trace and then died without a trace. That happens when people get held captive."

"Maybe he ran away." Austin suggested.

"For an hour?" she questioned, "Somehow ended up in school? With rope burns on his wrists? Stab wounds? Not breathing?" she replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Okay, Okay, so maybe he didn't run." Austin said, "He couldn't have been held captive for a night." he added. "I mean, why would they want Dez? What would he have done?"

"They?" Ally questioned, "How'd you know it was a 'they'?" she arched her eye brows.

Austin gave her a sour look. "I wasn't in on it."

"How do I know that? How do I know you're not trying to lead me away from the truth?" she quizzed him.

"Ally," he drawled, "I came to you for this. Remember that."

She immediately realized how odd she must've sounded. "Right." she said, recalling that it was Austin who wanted her help.

"I assumed it was a they." Austin told her. "I don't know, I feel like maybe it was more than one person."

"Oh, that makes are lives a whole lot easier." Ally grumbled to herself. Austin laughed slightly. He relaxed into his bed again, staring at his ceiling.

"I'm sure once we catch one person who did it, we'll catch them all. Hopefully. If it is more than one person anyways." Austin said. Ally nodded. "But, come to think of it, the task seems like a lot more than Dez just wandered to the school one day without a purpose. Something had to have brought him there. There has to be a reason. One person couldn't have cleaned up like that either, it must've been more than a one man job." he added.

"Still think it was a teacher?" Ally questioned, drawing imaginary shapes on his bed comforter.

"I don't know anymore. It could've been anyone." Austin said. "We've still got to do those interviews."

"Have." Ally said. He looked at her oddly. "We still _have _to do those interviews." she corrected.

"I don't care about grammar!" Austin shrieked, running his fingers through his hair, "Gosh, you're like my mother."

"Hey, I'm the one and only." she said, in a warning voice. Austin looked at her and laughed slightly. For the rest of the evening until Austin's parents got home, Austin and Ally made up questions to ask students and teachers at the school tomorrow. They were going to figure out this case.


	8. Chapter 8

"I don't know, I guess Dez was a good guy?" a student guessed sitting directly in front of Austin and Ally. The duo exchanged glances. Ally grunted under her breath and scratched off the student's name from the long list.

Johnny Young was the tenth student out of the day so far who doesn't have the slightest clue about Dez's murder. Austin and Ally were growing tired. There had to be somebody who knew something. So far all the got was: _Who? I don't know a Dezmond. Dez was weird. Oh, I remember that kid - sad what happened, but I never talked to him. Shouldn't this be left for the police, not students? I bet Dez killed himself that's why you can't find any answers. _It went on and now Austin's head was aching and Ally just wanted to toss the list of names onto the floor in defeat.

"Is that all you can say about him?" Austin asked, his voice laced with frustration. Ally sent Austin a look. He sighed. There was no use in getting mad at the students. Dez wasn't all that social, he was quiet and reserved. Nobody quite knew him.

"Uh, Yeah." replied Johnny. Austin lowered his head, sighing once again and giving him a hand gesture for him to get up and walk away. Johnny's chair scuffed against the floor and he then stood up. "Sorry." he manages to say before walking off to his next class.

They were holding up interviews in the library. They had made arrangements with students who they had asked to interview. Austin knew his parents wouldn't be keen with him skipping class for this but his skin was starting to itch from the ache to know what happened to his best friend.

"I think Katie should be-"

"Screw this damn interviews," Austin growled, dropping his pen down on his paper. Nothing was even written on it. He had expected to have pages of information to help out with the case but nobody knew anything at all. His page was blank.

"Austin, we have to keep trying." Ally said. She glanced at the clock on the library wall and saw it was nearly 3 P.M. They had thirty minutes approximately to interview another student but it seemed Austin didn't want to anymore. He was exhausted with the whole thing.

"What's the point?" he questioned, but his voice was muffled from his face being pressed into his arms that were crossed on the table top. Ally sighed slightly. She didn't know what to say either. Dez almost seemed like a lost cause. As much as she wanted the justice for him, _needed _the justice, she couldn't get the pieces of this puzzle to fit.

"What's going on over here?" asked the librarian. She had wrinkled creased on her forehead as she eyed Austin with concern.

Ally looked up at the librarian, "Nothing." she said. Ally had found she'd been saying that word a lot lately.

"Nice try. I saw you talking with multiple students. What's happening?" she questioned, nosily.

Ally looked over at Austin who still wouldn't look at the librarian. He kept his face pressed into his arms as he focused on feeling sorry for himself. Ally looked at the librarian again. "We want answers for Dezmond Wade."

"Dezmond Wade?" the librarian frowned for a moment before her eyes lit with recognition, "Oh, Dezmond! Ah, he was a good boy. He spent a lot of time here before he passed away." Her lip twitched with sadness as she recalled his death.

Austin lifted his head and looked at the librarian. That was the first piece of new information he'd heard all day. "He what?" asked Austin, picking up his pen again and positioning his paper in front of him.

"About three weeks before he'd passed on, he had been spending a ridiculous amount of time here. Of course he naturally always loved being here. He was nearly here once a week but those last three weeks he had been here excessively. He constantly was writing something onto pieces of paper. I believe he spent a lot of time meeting up with Mr. Gordie and another boy I hadn't seen before." she said.

Austin quickly scribbled it down. He looked at the librarian. "Anything else?"

"Unfortunately not. Perhaps, you could speak to Mr. Gordie? Maybe he has some information for you." she replied. Austin nodded frantically. "I've got to get back to my desk." she said, dismissing herself. Austin and Ally walked away.

"Imagine that," Austin said, still staring at the librarian, "5 hours of my day was spent interviewing people and the person who knew the most helpful information was the librarian."

"That was weird." Ally said.

"Why was it weird?" asked Austin, confused.

"Well...Why wouldn't she ever say anything?" Ally asked, "She never mentioned it to the cops. They interviewed every teacher and she didn't say a word of this to them. It's odd."

Austin stared at Ally, "You don't think...?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Ally shrugged. Austin sighed. Ally scribbled down the librarians name and circled it. "We should still talk to Mr. Gordie."

"That was Dez's favourite teacher." Austin told her.

"Maybe he has information on Dez. After all, she just said that Dez had been meeting up with Mr. Gordie. Maybe Dez said something to him about what was going on." Ally said. Austin nodded in agreement. Ally wrote down Mr. Gordie's name, too.

Suddenly, Austin jerked forward by the force of a slap behind his head. He looked up in confusion and saw Jace and Elliott standing above him with mischievous grins. Austin laughed slightly. "Hey, Man, You didn't go to any classes after first block." said Jace.

"Yeah, I know." Austin swallowed. "I've, um, I've been doing stuff...Yeah, stuff." Austin smacked his hand on his paper but had it flipped so his friends wouldn't see what it was.

Elliott's eyes flickered to Ally who was sitting next to him, playing with a beaded bracelet that was tied around her wrist. He looked back at Austin. "Don't tell me you're skipping with her?"

"I'm not, I'm not," Austin denied, "We just...We have a project to work on. We both totally hate it and we're behind. I need this grade. Gotta make sure I graduate."

Elliott nodded but Austin knew how unconvincing he sounded. "Right, okay, but why don't you just make her do all the work? She's good at school." Elliott said, recalling when he'd cheated off her test one day and it earned him an A.

Austin glanced over at Ally who wasn't looking at any of them but he caught her rolling her eyes. He looked at his friends. "Come on, I'm not that awful." Austin said, managing to carry a smirk on his lips. "Plus, it gives me a good reason not to show up to the really boring classes."

Jace glanced down at Ally before looking at Austin, "Is that really it, Austin? Or are you friends with her?" Because talking about her like she wasn't sitting there was totally polite, right? "Austin, I know you're a social guy, but she is not the type of person you want to hang out with." He didn't exactly have a firm reason why, he just figured she was geeky. He'd admit that she was funny in English class, but she wasn't anywhere near their social status. That was a dead warning to stay away from her before she destroyed the reputation.

"Friends?" Austin scoffed, "Yeah, right. I'd never be friends with her. I'm telling you, it's a stupid project. I thought you knew me better than that."

"Sorry, Man." Jace said, slapping his palm on Austin's shoulder. Austin looked at Ally for a moment but she still wasn't looking at him. He wondered what she was thinking. It probably wasn't nice things. "Well, Elliott and I are heading out. We're gonna grab stuff for tonight. There's gonna be a sick party and since you skipped out on the last one, I plan on you being there tonight. It's at Simon's Beach House, right down Miami Beach."

"Right, Yeah, I'll be there. I promise." Austin said.

"Later, dude." Elliott said. He glanced down at Ally and saw the name's scrawled out on paper. He frowned in confusion. He glanced at Austin again who hadn't noticed him sneak a look at the list. Elliott shook his head and just pushed it to the back of his mind as he walked off with Jace.

"Welp, School's pretty much over now. I'm going to go home. No point in staying." Ally said, standing up from her chair and collecting her things.

Austin's knuckles latched around Ally's wrists. She looked at him and ignored how warm his palm felt. He found her eyes. "You know, I didn't mean any of that stuff, right?" he quizzed.

With her free arm, Ally tugged her bag over her shoulder. "I don't know," she said, "We're not friends. We all know you better than that."

"Ally," Austin said but she had already lightly pulled her arm out of Austin's not-so-tight grip. She still waved at him coolly. She'd never lose her attitude on him as she ignored that his words did hurt just a little bit. Just a little, tiny, itsy bit. "Ally," he called again. She turned out the door.

Austin grunted softly, turning his head to look down at his paper. He sighed slightly. He decided to go home, too. He should probably apologize to Ally properly but he wondered if she'd even let him in because she seemed like she shut him out often. He gathered his things and left the library.

**. . . . . **

Austin tossed back a shot, grimacing as he did so. He glanced over and saw Elliott walking away, his arm being tugged by a pretty blonde girl. He turned around and stuck his tongue out at Austin and gestured a 'Rock It' sign with his fingers. Austin laughed slightly and shook his head.

"You're not having as much as you normally do." said a familiar voice. Austin looked over and saw it was Kira. She hadn't bothered him much ever since he'd told her off with Brooke that one day in the cafeteria. She acted as if she weren't still pissed about that but there was this throbbing sense inside of him that she was still very pissed and most likely wanted his liver on a platter.

"What's it to you?" Austin questioned, grabbing Jace's beer and taking a gulp. Jace had wandered off as well and Austin didn't want his drink to go to waste. He didn't call it stealing his drink, he called it putting the drink to good use.

"Nothing, actually." Kira said, slightly snide. Austin arched his eye brows, nodding his head slowly. There was the pissed off part of her. It seemed she was growing hostile of him the more he saw her. He preferred it over her always running her hands down his back. It made him uncomfortable when she did that. He thinks he even prefers Brooke over her.

"These parties have gotten boring. Same old, same old." Austin said, squinting as he looked inside the neck of the beer bottle. It seemed the contents were all gone and he was still hardly even tipsy yet.

"Why don't you just go look for something new?" Kira questioned, "It's not gonna just fall from the Heaven's and land in your arms." she said. He shrugged. She had a point but he didn't care. He just felt like sitting at the counter and drinking. His thoughts were fading in and out about Dez and then Ally. The Dez thing was bothering him because he just needed to know, but the Ally thing was different. He felt guilty for what he said and felt like he regretted it. He didn't want to regret it but he did. He hadn't seen her or spoken to her. She didn't seem angry with him when she left the school but he wondered if he crossed some sort of line with what he said. He never was good with handling girls' feelings. He managed to always hurt or break a heart. He's sure Ally's not hurt or broken, probably just pissed

"I like it here." Austin said. "Comfortable stool, drinks, I don't have to watch couples making out left, right, and centre."

Kira laughed slightly and nodded in agreement. She glanced over her shoulder, passed Austin and saw something different. Her eyes got a little wider, eye brows raising. She looked back at Austin and took a sip of her beer. "Well, it's your lucky day. That is definitely not the usual." she pointed towards the door.

Confused, Austin looked over and his eyes widened. It was Ally. She wasn't dressed any differently. She was in a simple band-shirt and jeans, her hair in her normal messy, loose wave. A tidal wave of confusion swept upon him as he watched her. She looked around the party, eyeing everything. He was sure Ally didn't go to parties. He'd never seen her at one and judging from Kira's comment, nobody had seen Ally at a party either.

Austin looked back at Kira who arched one brow. "Aren't you doing some lame project with her or something?" Kira asked. Austin hesitated before he nodded slightly.

"Yeah," he said, "I don't know why she's here."

"Neither do I. The girl is a joy to have in class when you get to listen to her banter with a teacher but she still doesn't belong to these parties." Kira said. Kira watched her. Ally was looking around the room and the more you watched her, the more it was obvious that Ally seemed confused. Kira laughed. "What is she doing?"

Austin watched Ally as she gazed around, a small frown printed on her features. She was twisting around and turning, looking at absolutely everything. When he finally hears Kira laugh as she asks what Ally is up to, Austin's features soften slightly. He wonders, too, because she doesn't look like she normally does. The sinister look is gone and she is genuinely lost and confused.

"Maybe she got the wrong address to some boys house or something." Kira giggled again, gulping down her beer. Austin still didn't reply. Kira looked over and noticed a cute boy. She smirked. "Later, Austin." But Austin didn't pay much attention to Kira as she waltzed away towards the cute boy.

Austin glanced around before he finally got off the stool and started heading for Ally. "Austin!" somebody called, grabbing his arm and tugging him aside. Austin looked and saw it was Jace. "Austin, Jack doesn't believe that you could beat him in a fight. I told him otherwise because you give a mean punch but he doesn't-"

"-Yeah, I'm great. I can punch. I have to go." Austin said, distractedly. Jace frowned as Austin walked away. Generally, Austin would've smirked and thrown a punch but he hadn't. Jace shrugged and turned to Jack to continue convincing him about Austin's mad fighting skills.

"Austin, hey, get over here!" somebody else called. Austin dismissed them with a wave. The bodies around Ally didn't seem to notice her existence as she turned in circles, that frown on her features so clearly showing her confusion.

"Ally," Austin said, trying to grab her attention over the thumping bass. Ally turned and saw Austin. She felt relieved that she recognized someone. Austin looked around and grabbed her arm. He pulled her down into a hallway so he could talk to her in private, along with so he had a place where he didn't have to yell over the music. "Ally, what are you doing here?"

She was still looking around, like she couldn't piece something together. "I..." she trailed off, her eye brows woven together in a quizzical frown.

Austin searched her face, waiting for the sly grin and the sinister eyes but he didn't receive it. She was still confused, distracted, and looking like she needed to figure something out. Austin grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him rather than everywhere else. "Ally." he said once again, "What are you doing here?" he spoke more slowly.

Then her eyes flickered into something like anxiety. "I...I don't know," she said, "I don't know how I got here...I was just...I was..." she stopped talking to swallow, "I don't know..." Her thoughts were racing.

Austin listened to her. Her speech seemed distracted, distant perhaps, maybe even a little bit odd. She wasn't talking like she normally did. He waited for her to say more but she didn't. She started to look around again, trying to figure out how she got to the party. Austin felt his pocket for his keys. "Come on," he muttered, "I'll take you home."

She nodded slowly. Austin mulled her through the crowded bodies. They both got shoved a few times but soon enough, they'd made it out of the house. "They can't find me," Ally murmured to herself. Austin looked over at her. "They can't find me." she murmured once again.

Austin decided to ignore it, unsure what she was talking about but he didn't care because he knew she was in one of her bad states again, like the time on the bench, or the incident at Starbucks when her gaze had been locked on the cup. He gets her to his car and he opens the door for her to get inside.

Austin sat in his car. He could hear Ally murmuring things to herself and it was slightly concerning, if he were to be honest. He turned and looked at her. "Ally," he said. It caught her attention and she looked at him. Her eyes definitely weren't the same. They were confused, anxious, and distant. "Who can't find you? Who don't you want finding you?"

He wondered if it was a stupid question to ask, but he waited for her reply anyways. "The people," she whispered, "The ones after me." She then repeated the moment on the bench, looking over her shoulder with paranoia sitting inside of her.

Austin sighed slightly. He looked at her again before inserting the keys into the ignition and driving away. He didn't care that he was intoxicated, he wasn't drunk so he figured he would be fine. He knew he needed to get Ally back home. She was in rough shape.

She had stopped murmuring to herself but she wouldn't let go of herself. She had her small arms wrapped around her petite frame. He stops in front of her house. He gets out of the car and then gets her out of her side. She's so paranoid, nearly out of it, that he wraps his arm around her shoulder just to let her know that he's right there. The front door opens and of course it's Trish, waiting on her.

"Thank God," Trish said, "I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have to deal with this. She's just..." she trailed off, not knowing how to apologize to him for Ally's trouble.

Austin shook his head, "No...I don't mind." he said honestly because for some odd reason Ally didn't weird him out or annoy him with this. It certainly wasn't fun to see her like this but he didn't, for one moment, get annoyed by it. "She showed up at the party...She didn't know how she got there."

Trish sighed as she let Austin and Ally inside. Luckily, Lester and Trish's mother weren't there to see Ally this way. "She ran out of the house. She..." Trish trailed off. Ally's brain wasn't broken, she knew what Austin and her were saying. Ally glided past Trish, the frown still present on her face. She walked up the stairs on her own, leaving Austin and Trish downstairs. Trish looked at Austin. "She...gets in these states of delusion...She thinks people are after her and trying to get her. She started telling me that she needed to get away from everyone. I tried to calm her down but she just took off." Trish explained.

Austin slowly nodded. "Would you mind if I..." he slowly trailed off, glancing up at the stairs.

Trish understood perfectly. "Yeah. Go ahead. Our parents aren't home until tomorrow. Stay as long as you like. I think she needs something like this. A friend like you. Her other friends...they just...they're airheaded about her illness. You treat her differently." She almost said _kinda like you care _but she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable so she kept it locked behind her lips.

Austin smiled slightly. He stood there for a moment before he made his way up the stairs and towards Ally's bedroom. She was muttering to herself again. Austin stepped into the room. Ally jumped, looking over at him. "Sorry." Austin chuckled slightly.

"They're going to get you, too, Austin, you need to stay here." Ally said as she grabbed his hand.

He didn't know how to talk to somebody who was delusional. "Nobody's going to get you or me, Ally." Austin said. Ally shook her head and tightened her grip on his hand. Austin looked at his hand that was being held by hers. She sat down on the bed, tugging him down next to her.

"I was having such a good day." Ally frowned. "There was nothing today. Now...Now I can't...I can't understand me," she said, her voice wobbling slightly, "My thoughts are racing."

"It's okay," Austin said, "That's alright. Just...Just relax."

Ally slowly nodded. Ally's eyes suddenly sparkled with remembrance of something. She let go of his hand. Austin watched her as she dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled paper. It was another article. She looked at Austin, handing it forward, "Coincidentally, I found this in a box in my parent's room. I think my Dad kept it or something. We have a box of stuff that Dez's parents gave to us for keepsake's, this was in there but I think my Dad was the one who found it and put it there. It's another article. Look at it."

Austin opened the paper that was now wrinkled. It was dated a couple weeks after Dez's death. Austin skimmed the words and discovered that apparently there was a boy who was police's huge suspect. They interviewed him but no information was attained and valuable for the situation. Though, because he was a minor, his name wasn't given out. "Do you think this kid has something to do with it?"

"Maybe."Ally said. "We need to figure out who it is. They say he's a boy with brown hair and dark brown eyes."

Austin rolled his eyes, "That's going to be simple to find." Ally laughed slightly. Austin looked over at her. "You should get some sleep, Ally. After school tomorrow we can...deal with this." he said, waving the article at her.

She nodded her head. "So, you're leaving then?" she questioned him softly.

Austin almost felt bad for a moment when he nodded his head. "Yeah. But I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, Okay." she replied. She didn't know why she wanted him to stay. After all, he was only a popular boy at school who was helping her solve the case of what happened to her cousin. He was hardly her friend.

"Bye," Austin said, smiling softly. Ally nodded her head and watched him leave her room. She walked to her window and peeked outside where she saw Austin leaving her house, his keys dangling in his hands. She watched him get into his car and drive away.

"We have to talk."

Ally looked over and saw Trish standing there. Ally nodded and followed Trish to the living room. _She's walking down the stairs. _Ally ignored the barely loud-enough voice at the back of her head. She didn't mind when she heard something narrating her, it just reminded her of being inside a book. However, the command voices weren't so easy to ignore it. They were the ones that riled her up and ended up making the psychiatrist give her pills in the first place. She could handle everything else. The delusions, visual hallucinations, even a few of the auditory hallucinations were manageable, they only became un-manageable when she was hearing their commands or snide comments.

_She's sitting down. _Ally's bottom hit the couch and she looked over at Trish who was sitting across from her on the other couch, eyeing her. "What?" Ally questioned.

"You know what," Trish said, "Who is he exactly?" she asked.

"Austin. I told you that. He's helping me." Ally said, "You know...With Dez and stuff." she added. Trish nodded and fought off a sigh. Ally had been mentioning things about figuring out what happened to Dez, Trish thought Ally should just leave it alone but she knew Dez was Ally's family so she stayed out of the conversation about it. "What? Are you going to tell me I can't hang out with him now? I'm too much of a lunatic to get involved with a normal person?"

"Ally," Trish barked, "You know me better than that!"

Ally focused on her feet. "What did you want to talk to me about then?"

Trish was quiet for a moment, "Tonight wasn't good, Ally. You were really delusional for a long moment there. This isn't a good idea, Ally. I know you hate meds but...they do help you. Your mental state."

Ally sighed, "Trish-"

"-Ally, just listen to me. Your mental stability is your main priority. Above school, above friends, above everything else. You need to take care of your mental health, Ally. Staying off of your pills is not taking care of your brain." Trish said. "I haven't told my Mom or your Dad. I need to know that you're going to be perfectly fine."

"I am perfectly fine." Ally said. It seemed like she jinxed herself because the moment she said it, she noticed her big toe was missing. Her eyes stared at her foot, trying to understand what she was saying. She had grown to know how to not react to things like this. She glanced at Trish who was watching her with a troubled expression. Ally looked at her distorted foot. Considering Trish wasn't reacting to how messed up her foot looked, Ally knew it was a hallucination. She mentally kicked her brain.

"Ally, you were almost manic tonight." Trish said.

"I was not!" spat Ally, narrowing her eyes at Trish. "I was just...delusional. Not manic. It didn't even last longer than forty minutes. I'm fine." she grumbled.

"I couldn't calm you down." Trish stated, "When you can't be calmed down it's considered manic."

"Well, I'm fine now. That was the only thing that happened today. That was it." Ally replied.

"Has there been anything else? Have you hallucinated yet? Seen things, heard things?" Trish questioned.

Ally lied, "No. I've been fine."

With an unsure voice, Trish said, "Okay..."

"I'm tired. I'm going to bed." Ally decided, though there was a gnawing ache in her chest. She didn't want to be alone at night. If she were alone, she would have to fight with herself and her thoughts about what was real and what wasn't. She took a deep breath and promised herself she would manage.

_She's getting up. _Ally glanced back at Trish and then walked towards the stairs. _She's going upstairs_. Ally was already annoyed with Trish, which made it hard not to be annoyed with the narration in her head. She wanted to pluck them from her brain and fling them into the ocean, but of course she couldn't do that to something that wasn't real.

She walks into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She doesn't dare to look in the mirror. Her hallucinations were getting worse, despite the fact she'd been telling people and herself that she was fine. She didn't want to look in the mirror, she didn't want to find something there. She still recalls the times before she was diagnosed when she would see her reflection and it wouldn't follow her movements or it would simply confuse her with visual hallucinations.

She curls into her blankets and closes her eyes. There's light whispering in the back of her mind so she turns over and drowns them out with the sound of a half-broken fan in her room. She doesn't mind that it makes her room freezing cold. She'll do anything not to hear those auditory hallucinations. With that, she falls asleep.


	9. Chapter 9

She didn't particularly look well today, it was the first thing Austin noticed. Ally sashayed stringy hair, baggy eyes, and a pale face - she resembled a corpse. Austin tapped his pencil repeatedly on his paper, annoying the student who sat beside him but she never asked him to stop. Austin had his fist curled under his chin, eyes glued to Ally's backside. He wanted to see her fidget, maybe that would let him know that she was still alive in that chair but she was stiff like a stone.

She is bending, she is breaking, she is losing it, Austin doesn't know which one suits her better because she seems to slip into all the categories perfectly. Ally's lips are still spitting out that she's fine, she's never been better actually as she lives off of two hours of sleep and three meals a day. She's fine but she still has to fight off the attention-seeking hallucination standing in the corner of the room. It's a man, actually it's just a silhouette, god, she doesn't know what or who it is but it's swaying side to side like it's just asking for her to look at it. She knew it was a hallucination because no silhouette follows you from your house, to your step-sister's car, to your locker, to your class.

There's is a beeping noise at the centre of Ally's ear drums, it's repetitive and annoying, she can hardly hear herself think. She wants to smash her ear drums, to stop the noise that's been playing since the morning. If she hadn't known any better, when she awoke, she would've been fooled to think she was in the hospital, hooked up to some heart monitor but she knows it's in her head and her head is getting kind of messy. But she's still fine.

Ally's lips bend upwards into a small smirk. She can feel Austin's stare hot on her back, trying to burn a hole there. She can't deny that she likes his attention. What girl wouldn't enjoy the staring of a handsome boy constantly watching them? The only difference is Ally knows he views her like a hand grenade and is waiting for her to explode and shatter herself.

Austin chews on the tip of his pencil which is absent of an eraser. This class gets longer and longer every day. He could be doing something more productive like solving the case of his best friend's murder but no, instead he has to sit in a class and talk about a cheesy author's use of metaphors. He doesn't know what metaphors have to do with life right now.

"Austin Moon," his name being called is the only thing that brings him out of his looping thoughts. Heads turn to look at him as Austin focuses on Mrs. Donna, he doesn't straighten his position. He likes slouching. His eyes capture the brown-eyed gaze of Ally Dawson. That's the first time she's looked at him in three days. She's been ignoring him and he doesn't know why. She's been weird lately - he's caught her walking back and forth from her place to the school. Austin sits in his car in the evening and just watches her. He wonders what she's been looking for. She hadn't been joining him to further their investigations so Austin had put them on hold.

"Yes, Mrs. Donna?" Austin cleared his throat, tearing his gaze from Ally's. Her eyes do something to him that he can't explain. It's like his insides twist painfully, like the emptiness, the coldness, the blankness of her eyes are too much for his heart to handle. He just wants to grab her head and have magic hands that make her illness go away, but he can't do that. He wished he could.

"I want to know if you've had breakfast this morning." Mrs. Donna says. Austin looks at her oddly. His friends from across the room snicker and Austin feels tempted to join. He slowly nods. "Interesting because that pencil seems to say something else."

Austin quickly tore the pencil away from his mouth, wiping his lips with the back of his hands. "Sorry. Distracted." Austin said.

"Obviously. Now read the fourth paragraph." Mrs. Donna ordered and Austin begrudgingly did as he was told. He read slowly and animatedly, causing the students to hold in snickers. His boredom was so available but Mrs. Donna pretended not to hear it.

When he finished, Austin slapped the book down on his desk. He saw that Mrs. Donna had scrawled out words onto the board: _Why do bad things happen to good people? _It tugged on Austin's heart but he managed to keep the bored look on his face.

Ally could hardly stare at the words. She picked at her binder, her nail polish chipping. Mrs. Donna's eyes land on Ally, "Ally Dawson, answer the question."

Ally looked at him and a little bit of life twinkled into her eyes as she answered simply, "Because life gets shitty."

Mrs. Donna sent her a disapproving look, "Manners, Dawson." she said, "That wasn't the answer I was looking for. Try again."

"I don't have anything." Ally said.

"Why?" questioned Mrs. Donna.

Ally gave her an irritated glance. "Because I don't. The question is unexplainable. Sometimes things happen to people and there's no answers to why. It's petty, if you ask me, trying to explain why something bad happens to someone good because bad things happen to bad people, too, but the thing with that is we only think bad things happen to good people, because nobody pays attention to the bad people, nobody cares about their sh...stuff." Ally grimaced as she found more appropriate vocabulary. "Bad things happen to everyone, not just the good people. Maybe if we started noticing the _bad people _and considered that they're human, too, we wouldn't have to answer stupid questions like this."

"That," Mrs. Donna grinned wide at her class, "Is the exact answer I was looking for!" she cheered and immediately burst into a lecture based on Ally's answer. Ally tuned it out. She didn't care about what Mrs. Donna had to say.

Austin's eyes were on Ally's backside again. He could find himself looking away for only a few moments before he watched her again. She fascinated him. He wondered why.

**. . . . **

"You're not a bad person."

Ally jumped and looked away from her book. Austin was standing next to her, hands in his pockets, eyes narrowed as he looked around the park's surroundings. Ally shook her head and closed her book, shoving it into her bag. "What are you going on about now?" she asked.

He glanced over at her, "Today in English...You're not a bad person, Ally."

Ally laughed, it came out slightly sarcastic, slightly bitter, slightly genuine and/or polite. "Of course I'm not. I'm one of those good people, aren't I? Those good people being pinned down inside asylum's with doctors forcing pills down their throats because their head is so out of whack. I'm a _wonderful _person."

"You have a lot of anger." Austin said simply.

"Well, No, shit." Ally gave Austin sarcastic smile. Austin shook his head as Ally did the same. Austin shrugged down into the seat beside her on the bench. He shivered slightly. It was cold today.

"You need to get that anger out, Ally. I am going to help you get that anger out." Austin grinned sinisterly at her. Ally rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, because I'm going to kick you and feel great." Ally said caustically. "Or maybe I could head-butt the wall and my anger will be gone - maybe while I'm add it, it'll knock out the craziness."

"Stop being sarcastic," Austin demanded, "I'll take you somewhere. You're going to let out that anger. I don't mean dancing it away or singing it out, you're going to get mad and you're going to let it out this time. Okay?" he said.

"No, Austin," Ally said, "I can't."

"Sure, you can." Austin said.

"No, Austin, _I can't_." Ally said sharply, "If I get out of hand...If I go completely psychotic and they will send me back."

Austin was silent for a moment. He hadn't thought of that. He was awful, encouraging her to get mad when it could just send her back to the stupid asylum. He decided not to beat himself up about it. "So, What, you're not allowed to get mad? Not for a moment? You get mad and they just inject you with needles? Force you into meditation?"

"Basically." Ally replied, shrugging, the seriousness in her voice now gone. Austin shook his head.

"They'll never know." Austin said.

Ally looked at him. "If I get mad, you have to stop me, okay? Before it gets bad. When I get angry, don't let me go crazy."

"Never." Austin promised. He jumped up. "Let's get you mad!"

He had ushered her into his vehicle and drove away. He took her somewhere far, where he could guarantee nobody was watching them or spying on Ally. She needed this. He could hear it in her voice when she talked about the asylum. She hated that place and it was clear that she didn't want to go back.

Ally glanced around at where they were and rose a quizzical brow. It was an empty field with two stray trees that sprouted in the middle of no where. Ally could hear the sound of a creek. "Dez and I used to come here as kids...It's relaxing." Austin said.

Ally's face softened slightly and she nodded. She looked around. The sky was dull with white clouds. The wind blew through her stringy hair. She hadn't showered in a couple days and now that her head was a little bit clearer, she felt like she really needed one.

Austin backed up a couple of steps and then threw his arms out, "Say it, Ally. Everything."

"I have nothing to say." Ally gave a gentle shrug.

"Bullshit." Austin muttered. She stared at him. Austin took a deep breath. He was going to have to _make _her angry. "They locked you away, Ally. They told you that you were crazy. They forced you to take pills claiming your insanity. They told you that you weren't normal. They said that you needed intense counseling. They said you were hurting the people around you. They said you were different, your brain was different." Austin listed. He could see the fire building in her gaze and he could also see she was trying to hide it but it was there. It was so there."They _drugged_ you up. They sent you in for _brain scans_. They were _proving _how fucking crazy you are. They didn't listen to you or a damn thing you had to say, they just did everything they wanted. Nobody asked you how you were. Nobody took the time to ask-"

"_Stop. Talking._" Ally growled in between the shoves she sent Austin. He stumbled back. He was alarmed at first before he nodded. This is what she needed. She was already breathing heavily, the anger vibrating on her breath.

"Nobody even noticed that you were probably fucking scared. Instead, they just stuck needles into your arms, attacked you with therapists who didn't really give a damn about you or your mental health, you were nothing but a _good pay_."

Ally shoved him harder, "Fucking stop, Austin!" she howled at him angrily.

Austin grabbed her wrists, pushing them away from his shoulders. "What did they do to you, Ally?" he questioned, carefully walking backwards and she walked closer to him like she was about to pin him to the ground and slit his throat.

"They're a fucking asylum! What do you think they did?" she seethed, shoving him again. Austin nodded as if to tell her to keep going and that's exactly what she did. "I was frantic when I walked in, practically being carried like a baby by my dad. They didn't even ask me to calm down, they grabbed me and they pinned me to the floor!" she shoved him again, her voice was building, "They called the doctor, they called on a room for me. They put a needle in my arm and said it was for my own good, I only wanted them _to listen to me!_" she screamed the last part. "I told them! I fucking told them about everything! I asked them to check my room, the house! I used to lock the doors, I saw things in the mirror, I was hearing these fucking up things whether it was somebody telling me not to eat dinner or multiple voices arguing about something I can't even remember, or sometimes if it was just a random song playing on a loop! I told them that I felt unsafe! I told them everything I was feeling! I told them about the silhouettes in my room, the random dog that kept showing up, I told them about how I was hearing the radio station's DJ talking to me through my damn stereo! I screamed that there were bugs in my skin and they didn't listen! They never listened! They always told me that I needed to stop being so dramatic, none of this was happening! That I was just trying to gather attention! It was real, Austin! It was very real! This was actually happening!"

"I know, I know," he nodded and left out the comment: _Actually, it wasn't. You were hallucinating_. "What do you want now?"

"A fucking _break_!" Ally howled, the anger boiling hot in her voice. "I'm tired! I don't want to hear the voices, I don't want to see things, I don't want the delusions, the odd sensations on my skin, the depression, the craziness, the anxiety, the paranoia! I don't want the damn pills! I don't want any of it! Not the counseling sessions, none of it! I don't want anybody to tell me that my head's _a fucking mess_ because I know it is but I'm fine! I'm really fine! I'm okay! I don't need Trish riding on my back about the goddamn pills, if they're so important, why doesn't she take them?! _I want a break from everyone_!"

Ally shoved Austin again. He didn't cringe even though he'd wanted to. She had been shoving him for a long time and it was starting to make his shoulders sore. She had a lot of anger bound inside her body that was just being released.

"Maybe I wouldn't be such a lunatic if people listened to what I have to say! Dez listened, he always listened! He listened better than any therapist I've ever had! That's probably why I'm getting crazier, because nobody is listening to me! It doesn't matter what I say, I'm just the step-sister, the daughter, the step-daughter, the friend who is psychotic and needs to be kept inside a fucking hospital every day of her life, whose brain doesn't know how to work properly!" she seethed. She shoved Austin again. "They put me on pills for everybody else! So nobody will get hurt, so I won't hurt them! But what about me? I'm important, too!" she yelled.

Austin nodded in agreement, grabbing her wrists to stop her from shoving him again. His shoulders were probably red by now. She was breathing heavily, each pant angry. "That felt good, right?" Austin said, "You can feel the difference it made releasing that anger, can't you?"

"What are you, a fucking psychologist? Stop trying to help me, Austin! Just stop!" Ally exclaimed, trying to shove him again but not being able to due to her wrists being bound inside Austin's palms.

"I'm not trying to help you, I'm trying to be a friend." Austin said.

"Well, you're not my friend, Austin! You're just some guy helping me solve my cousin's case! You don't even acknowledge me at school and when you do, you lie about who I am to your friends!" Ally shrieked. Austin sighed, guilty.

"I know, Ally, I know, and I'm sorry, I just-"

"-No, you're not! You don't give a rat's ass about me! Nobody does! You only wanted me to help you because I knew Dez just as much as you did! None of this was because you thought of me as a person, I'm just his cousin that you didn't know until now who had the same value about finding what happened to him!"

"Okay, yes, Ally, you're right," Austin snapped, "You are just a person who is helping me because I know that you saw Dez the way I did. I knew you wanted to figure it out just as much as I did, too. So, no, I never looked at you like 'hey, I should be her friend', I never wanted to be your friend! I thought that you were the perfect idea to help me with Dez! That is all true!"

Ally's bottom lip curled out angrily. She broke the contact with his hands and shoved him back. He stumbled. "Ally-" Austin tried, but she kept shoving him. Austin watched her. _When I get angry, don't let me go crazy._ Her words rang in his mind and he realized this is what she was afraid of. She was afraid of not being able to stop. And that's exactly what was happening, she was going crazy and her anger was only feeding it. _You have to stop me, before it gets bad. _

"Ally," Austin said again, grabbing her wrists, "Ally, stop it." She managed to slip her wrists out of his hold again and shove him even harder. Austin kept stumbling backwards. "Ally!" Austin scowled at her, "Ally, stop it! That's enough! You got out what you needed to say and now you're done."

"Oh, no," Ally shook her head, "I have so much more to say!" she snapped. Austin gripped her wrists one more time, this time gripping them tightly until he saw her flinch. "Austin, stop." she murmured, looking at her wrists which were aching from his hold.

"Ally," Austin said, the last warning in his voice, "You need to calm down."

"Let me go," she growled, trying to yank her wrists from his grasp but he wouldn't budge.

"No." Austin refused. "Not until I know that when I let you go, you'll be calm." She kept fighting with his hold on her. He sighed in frustration, easily not letting his hold slip. He decided to question her about other things. "Where have you been these last three days? Why have you been ignoring me?"

"I'm flattered you care so much about my absence - God, Austin, just let go!" Ally spat, venomously. Austin shook his head. She was fighting with him now, twisting her body to try and get the hold off of her wrists, fighting with his arms. By now, she had twisted herself around, her back pressed against Austin's chest as he fought to keep the hold on her.

"Ally, stop it," Austin growled, "I'm trying to help-"

"- I don't need it!" she howled at him, a frown on her face. "You're the last person I'd go to even if I did need it."

"Ally, stop fighting with me." Austin grunted, tightening his hold until he felt her cringing.

He doesn't know what happened but he heard her sniffling as she forced herself to keep fighting with him. He caught the sound of her crying suddenly and noticed the tears on her cheeks. "No," she sobbed, her face crumpling, "You're going to take me back."

Austin furrowed his eye brows, twisting her around again so she was facing him. She didn't look at him, her face twisted into a broken look as she kept crying, allowing her hair to hide her face from him. "What?" he said, "Take you back where?"

"You're going to take me _back_." Ally repeated, whimpering.

He had a feeling he knew what she meant. He shook his head. "No, Ally, I'm not. I'm not taking you anywhere, I just want you to calm down so we can talk properly. I'm not going to take you there or anywhere you don't want to go. I would never do that to you. I'm your _friend_."

This time she didn't argue with what he labeled himself as because she was starting to feel that he really was her friend, despite the misunderstandings that happen at school. He seemed to be the only person who took the time to notice that she was angry, or to notice her illness at all.

She had stopped fighting with him, letting her wrists hang loosely in his palms. When she felt his grip loosen on wrists, she realized that he was telling the truth. He really wasn't going to take her back to the asylum. The voice in her head lied to her.

He carefully let go of her wrists and stared at her as she watched her feet, tears falling from her eyes. She sniffled. She could feel her head getting cloudier and messier, she was starting to feel afraid. "It's okay." Austin murmured gently. "I thought telling you to get mad would help...I didn't know it would...make you more upset."

She shook her head, scrubbing her palm at the wetness on her cheeks. "It didn't...I mean, it did make me feel better." she said, "Thank you."

"Yeah..." Austin replied softly.

Austin watched her press her hands to her head, her face crumpling again. "I gotta go, Austin. I gotta go." she whispered, trying not to pay attention to the voices whispering lowly inside her heads or that damn beeping sound that kept playing over and over again like it was stuck on a never-ending loop.

Austin slowly nodded, "Okay."

He got her in the car where she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face into her kneecaps. Austin started driving away from the field, trying to ignore the sound of her sniffles. When Austin turned a corner, Ally lifted her head, shaking it, "Not my house."

Austin looked at her oddly, "Not to your house? Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know. Not my house, though." Ally replied. Austin slowly nodded. He wasn't sure where else to go so he decided on his own house. His parents weren't home again and he'd feel better if Ally was at his house rather than somewhere else alone in her state.


End file.
